Generations
by Romantic Twist
Summary: After a series of romances lead to marriage, time moves on and a new generation of youth are born in the Land of the Giants. (Twilight Zone/Night Gallery send-up plot only runs through a couple of chapters. Basically a LOTG novel).
1. All in One Basket

Berna and Thorrg had restored the timeline to normal, by tricking Steve and Dan into reliving their flight to the Land of the Giants. Steve and Dan, suffering from chemically induced amnesia, had forgotten that they were displaced in time, and had relived the entire two years, unaware of the existence of Berna and Thorrg.

This left Berna and Thorrg free to explore and observe the Land of the Giants without the Spindrift crew having any knowledge of their presence. After a while, they came to a fence that was only a few feet taller than themselves. Using their Space Time Manipulators, they teleported to the other side of the fence and saw a young woman sitting on a porch in front of a house their own size.

"Hello," she said, "I'm Marna. How did you get in here?"

"We can manipulate space and time," said Thorrg.

"Oh I wish I had my time over again," said Marna.

"What do you mean?" asked Berna.

Marna Whalan told them how she had been raised by the giants who had built her house, met Mark Wilson and tried to lure all of his friends into the compulsory care and scientific analysis of the giants. Mark had had no choice but to leave her to protect the group that she had endangered. In the time that had passed, she had been stirred by her experience with a man her own size to wish that she could have enjoyed the same freedoms that they had.

"How many bedrooms are there in this house?" asked Berna.

"Three, I believe. The giants wanted a whole family of us, but my parents did not survive."

"And you say these giants don't harm you, but are only interested in analysing you?" asked Berna.

"That's right," said Marna, "They give me a lot of freedom within the house, and turn on a video link by remote to monitor me sometimes."

"We're in a similar business ourselves," said Thorrg, "We observe and analyse, but do nothing to interfere with the flow of history. We can use our STMs as tools and weapons in a particular time, but not to displace people from their time period."

"That's how it goes," said Berna, "We couldn't take you back in time to alter your experience with Mark, but we could teleport you out of here and make this house our own. It would be a fair exchange between us and the giants. They could study us, and we could study them. Yet with our STMs, we would be free to come and go from this house as we pleased. We're boyfriend and girlfriend. So the use of two separate bedrooms would be most appropriate for us. Would you like us to set you free?"

"Oh yes," said Marna.

"Then go to your friend Mark, but do not tell him of us. Just say that you escaped," said Thorrg, not wishing for Steve and Dan to learn of the STMs and attempt another unauthorized journey into the past to prevent the original flight to the Land of the Giants in 1983.

Thorrg used his STM to teleport all three of them outside, then sent himself and Berna back in. They soon explained the situation to the giants, who were never in the habit of coming into the house now that it was functioning well enough anyway. With Thorrg's technical expertise, he could repair anything himself, should it break down. The giants agreed to the exchange of observation opportunities, and knew that they could not prevent Berna and Thorrg from leaving and returning at will anyway.

Marna set out in search of the Spindrift crew, and took longer than she had expected to find them, as a hearing impaired boy had repositioned the space ship since their first encounter. She had never been allowed to go near the ship back then anyway. Steve the captain had not trusted her, and rightly so.

Eventually she came upon the Spindrift and apologised to all of them, and gradually convinced them all to trust her. There was only one disappointment for her. It seemed that Mark Wilson was paying her no more than a polite courtesy of attention, and it soon became obvious that he had formed a romantic relationship with Valerie. Alexander Fitzhugh seemed more than willing to take Mark's place in her thoughts, but she felt nothing for him. Nor was she interested in Steve, whom she found to be too sceptical and regimental for her tastes. Steve had given her a chance to join his team, but the history between Marna and Steve and Mark would not allow either of them to develop any feelings for each other.

However, there was one other man whom she had not really met properly during their first encounter, and he seemed to have a natural willingness to trust people and see the best in everyone. Though close friends with Steve, he was the polar opposite in lacking Steve's caution. Setting her sights on the co-pilot, Marna gradually won his attention and the two started dating.

One day, they were all in the ship, when they heard Chipper barking hysterically. Steve ran to the door and looked out in horror. A giant rat had Chipper in its jaws. Steve raced back and grabbed the bow and arrows he had inherited from Major Kagan.

"Mark! Get the flame thrower! I'll explain in a second!" called Steve, and managed to fire a fatal shot at the rat.

The huge beast collapsed a little, but was not dead from a wound in its torso. Steve fired again, taking careful aim at the rat's head, so as not to hit Chipper, and slew the monster. It released its grip on Chipper, but to no avail. The poor little dog was dead.

The others came running out.

Barry was quietly upset, and insisted on taking Chipper to the stream, cleaning him up and burying him. Fitzhugh and Betty went with him, as they had become his closest friends, while the others wondered what to do about the rat.

"I had thought the flame thrower might be a more effective weapon than the bow and arrows," said Steve, "But it didn't work out that way. We could still use it though, to dispose of the carcass. A giant rat would leave an awful smell otherwise. Barry would be more settled if he didn't have to look at it when they get back too.

Mark went to work with the flame thrower until there was nothing but ashes, which the wind would soon blow away.

"How much longer can we live like this?" asked Valerie, "Fugitives out in the open forest don't stand much of a chance."

Betty actually tucked Barry into bed that night and kissed his cheek as an act of comfort. The boy had been developing quite a crush on her, but had also sensed that she had yearnings for Steve.

The next day the eight Spindrift members were all at the ship again, as they tended to sleep in the daytimes and go out at night. Nobody trusted the lean to as a place to sleep, after the incident with the rat. Whatever bedding arrangements were needed were all laid out each time in the corridors and passenger room of the ship. There was nothing else that they could do.

Suddenly a jolting of the ship awoke them, and they felt themselves being lifted up, lowered into something and then carried on a long walk. Steve looked out of the ship's cockpit windows and saw that they seemed to be inside a giant picnic basket beside a salad bowl which was as large as the Spindrift. Looking up he saw the back of a giantess, who had long pale red hair.

The giantess eventually stopped and put down the basket. She lifted the ship out and set it down by a stream on some grass, and then put out her picnic rug and placed the salad bowl onto it. Barry joined Steve in the cockpit and both of them looked up at the giantess in abject surprise. Apart from her giant size and lengthy red hair, she was an exact facial double of Betty Ann Hamilton, their stewardess.

"How can it be Betty?" asked Barry.

"I don't know," said Steve, "Didn't Fitzhugh say that he'd seen a giant image of himself when we had that adventure with the cervo-actuator?"

"How can what be Betty?" asked the familiar Betty Hamilton, entering the cockpit, "… Why, she's …. Me!"

"I don't think she knows we're here. She hasn't made any effort to get at us, just put down the ship and started eating," said Steve.

Barry watched her eating and thought how amazing it looked. He had never thought of Betty as a giantess before. The sight of her giant sparkling pink tongue receiving food gave the boy an engaging desire to go through almost all of the motions of being eaten by her himself. He thought of the Betty beside him and felt a momentary twinge of private embarrassment. His crush on her had been too difficult to mention. How would she feel about him wanting her giant double to eat him?

"Maybe we should go out and say hello," said Barry.

"We're exposed here anyway. We might as well," said Steve.

"You're usually one to err on the hesitant side, when it comes to revealing ourselves to giants," said Betty.

"But what else can we do? If she knows we're here, she might take us back to camp. Anyway, if she's as sweet as you, she's unlikely to harm us," said Steve, and went to the others to suggest putting it to a vote.

"As sweet as me!" whispered Betty to herself, forgetting that Barry could overhear her.

It could not have been mere coincidence that Steve had used that phrase for the first time in the four years she had known him: two on earth and two in the Land of the Giants.


	2. A Very Giant Sequel

Betty and Barry joined the others and they voted unanimously to take a chance, with the condition that not all of them reveal themselves at once. Steve opened the door and then stepped out with Betty and Mark. It made sense to leave the co-pilot in the ship, and Steve felt that the giantess might be even more amenable to them, if she was aware of the unexplained similarity between herself and Betty.

"Hello!" I'm terribly sorry," said the giantess, "I didn't know there were any little people in there. I'm a stewardess, and I thought this was an unusual toy aircraft that would look nice on my coffee table."

"A stewardess!" said Betty, "I'm the stewardess of this sub-orbital craft. I'm Betty Hamilton."

"Really! That's my name too!" said the giantess.

"Betty _Ann_ Hamilton?" asked earth Betty.

"Yes!" said giant Betty, "How can this be?"

"I don't know," said Betty, "But if you take a closer look at me, you'll be even more surprised."

Giant Betty lay down on her stomach, so that her face was right in front of the three earthlings and gaped in surprise.

"You look just like me, and I like your hairstyle," said giant Betty, "I think I might try that soon… if you don't mind."

"I wouldn't mind at all," said Betty.

That was enough to put Steve's mind at rest. If giant Betty was considerate enough to seek her double's permission to imitate her hairstyle, she would not likely use any form of force against the earthlings.

"Would you like to meet the rest of us?" asked Steve, "Come on out, the rest of you!"

Barry had been waiting for that. He ran out ahead of the others and stood at the front of the group, being the shortest. He wondered if he was imagining the fact that giant Betty seemed to be smiling a little more sweetly, whenever their eyes met.

"I could take your ship back where I found it if you like, but would you all prefer to come and live with me?" she asked, "I don't know how you can stand being at the mercy of the elements with the SID looking for you all the time too. I could feed all of you more than adequately at a negligible additional cost to my housekeeping budget."

"Why not, Steve?" said Valerie, "Think of the rat, and all we've been through. This is better."

"Is that how you all feel?" asked Steve, though it was a foregone conclusion that the question would be rhetorical.

They all agreed. Then Mark spoke up.

"We have been trying to make the ship flightworthy again, but haven't really come close so far," said Wilson, "I'd like to keep trying, but we're very grateful to have a proper home here. Do you live nearby?"

"I'm in a high rise apartment in the city. I'll make sure that nobody finds you. Would you like to share in my lunch before we head off?"

The group enjoyed picnicking with giant Betty. Then she waited while they returned to the ship, and then placed it in the basket. This time she refolded the rug and put it over the ship, so that she would not arouse any suspicion when she returned to the city on foot.

Sometime later she set the Spindrift down on a carpet and waited for them to come out.

"I don't have much in the way of tiny furnishings at the moment. Would you like me to go shopping for some dolls houses and other things?"

They thanked her for her kindness, and she had soon set up a little village of eight dolls houses in her spare room.

In the months ahead, attempts to repair the ship remained unsuccessful, but the team relaxed, no longer constantly on the run from both giant animals and giant humans. Mark proposed to Valerie, and giant Betty helped them set things up for a wedding ceremony in the dolls village. Earth Betty was bridesmaid. Steve officiated the ceremony and Fitzhugh gave Valerie away, with Dan as best man. They began living together in Valerie's dolls house, as she had the better sense of décor. Mark's dolls house became a laboratory for him to use when he needed it.

In the meantime, four lost boys continued wandering the outdoors of the Land of the Giants. They were Nick the leader, his brother Joey, and two other boys named Dolf and Hopper. One day they were sneaking through the park, when they were found by a beautiful blond haired giantess with three blond daughters.

"Would you like to join us?" asked the giantess, sitting on a park bench, "I haven't had a man in my life since my husband Brady left me to run off with a circus carnival. He owns it now, complete with gorilla and marionette acts. The puppeteer Goalby and his friend Lisa had little people posing as puppets, but now they use marionettes with little people's tape recorded voices in them."

"Thanks. Don't mind if we do," said Nick, "I'm Nick. This is my brother Joey, and our friends Dolf and Hopper."

"I'm Caroline, and these are my daughters, Sasha, Jane and Mindy."

They all struck up a great friendship, and then one day Nick proposed to Caroline.

"I'd love to marry you," she said, "This time I'll have a husband I can hold onto, quite literally. So don't get any ideas about leaving me."

"I wouldn't want to," said Nick, and couldn't wait to tell the other boys that he'd asked her to marry him.

He'd been keeping the relationship a secret from them, not sure whether she would ever consider marrying again after her husband had abandoned her. Nick decided to invite all the other boys out on a long bushwalk and tell the story of his courtship. Hopper said that he couldn't make it, as he wasn't feeling well.

Which was true enough, as Hopper, knowing nothing of Nick's relationship with Caroline Brady, was anxious as could be about his chances with her. With the other boys out on the bushwalk, and Caroline's daughters at school, Hopper took the chance to go into Mrs Brady's kitchen and ask her out on a date.

"This could make things awkward, when he finds out about Nick," thought Mrs Brady, "I've got an idea that's been on my mind for a while though."

"… That's if I'm someone you'd consider dating," continued Hopper.

"We needn't worry about going out," said Mrs Brady, "I think we've everything we need for a nice lunch date right here today."

"Oh thank you!" said Hopper.

"You're welcome, kind Sir," said Mrs Brady, and began stirring a warm chopped mushroom sauce, which stood beside a bowl of boiled white rice.

"That looks nice," said Hopper.

Mrs Brady dipped her finger into the sauce, and licked it.

"It needs something else," she said.

"What would that be?" asked Hopper.

Mrs Brady picked him up and gave him a lovely kiss, and then put him down and released her grip on him, to reveal that she had lowered him into the rice.

"I'm really flattered," she said, "And I think I've found what it needs."

He realised that she was going to add him to her meal and eat him.

"Mrs Brady! Are you sure?"

"I've never cooked a meal I didn't like," she said, beaming mischievously, as she slowly poured the warm sauce over the rice and himself.

It felt a little like a warm spa bath. She gave him the most beautiful smile of amusement as she stirred the sauce and rice together, gently so as not to knock him off balance.

Mrs Brady took the meal to the kitchen table, sat down and spooned the rice and sauce into her mouth until it was all gone. Then she licked the remainder from him and drank a large glass of water to clean her mouth.

"Now for the specialty of the day," she said, and put Hopper into her mouth and swallowed him.

Nick returned with the boys filled in on his news, and Caroline announced it to her daughters at the end of the day. Hopper had not been seen for some time, and in time the boys suspected that he'd been caught by a giant that they would not be able to locate.

They held the wedding privately, with only Caroline and her daughters and the boys in attendance. They had Joey and Dolf stand as dolls on the wedding cake.

"A few years ago, I thought it was the end of married life. Now I have you," said Caroline.

"Here's to giant beginnings," said Nick.

They said their vows, and then the wedding party for seven started. During the proceedings, Joey, Dolf, Sasha, Jane and Mindy sang a special wedding song they'd worked out:

"_Here's the story of a single mother, who was busy with some full time custody._

_All three girls were giant sized, like the woman, as anyone could see._

_Here's the story of a little boyfriend, who was leader of a group of little boys._

_They were three or four tiny earthlings, who still maintained their poise,_

'_til the one day when the leader met the lady, _

_And they felt that it might not be quite that wild,_

_If that tiny guy would wed an instant family,_

_Since they couldn't really have another child."_

Joey and Dolf lived in Caroline's giant backyard, and never learned what had happened to Hopper.

Giant Betty went to the hairdressers and had her hair cut short to match the style of earth Betty's and then dyed it blond. To Barry, the increased resemblance to earth Betty made him keener than ever to find out if giant Betty would have any romantic interest in him, as the boy was rapidly coming of age.

Feeling the desire for stardust of their own, Dan and Marna were also soon engaged and married shortly after, with similar arrangements.

One day, Barry asked earth Betty if he could talk with her. Giant Betty was on a flight job, and Steve was helping Mark in his laboratory.

"Sure, Barry. What's on your mind?" asked Betty.

"What do you think about giant Betty?' asked Barry.

"She's been very good to us," said Betty, "I don't understand how there can be two of us, but I know we'll be well taken care of."

"I like her … very much," said Barry, "I don't know if she likes me. Do you think she might?"


	3. A Tale of two Bettys

"She seems friendly to all of us. It's hard to tell whether she feels anything unique for you or not," said Betty.

"I thought you might know, because … I mean … I think you like Steve that way, but you liked me as someone you were going to adopt when we reached London, if my cousins didn't want me. I've always liked you too, and I hope you don't feel offended if I like giant Betty even more. Since giant Betty doesn't have a giant Steve, do you think she might settle for me?"

"Of course I'm not offended. I'm flattered, and I don't like you any less than Steve. I've just known him longer and formed an attachment, which I hope won't be one way. If it weren't for that, I'd have given serious thought to you."

"Even though I'm just a boy?" asked Barry.

"We can't help it if there's an age difference," said Betty, "I think she'd like you … so long as she doesn't mind the size difference."

"Would you have liked me if I was just as relatively tiny?"

"It wouldn't discourage me. I'm sure I'd like Steve if he was tiny," said Betty, "Why don't you ask her out and see what happens?"

"It's not as if I can take her anywhere," said Barry, "And it could be awkward living in this apartment with her if she says no."

"We could spend time with her together when she gets home. I'll watch her body language towards you and see if I can pick up on any hints," said Betty.

"Thank you, Betty. You've always looked after me, and this time you're the only one who can."

Betty gave him a hug and kissed his cheek.

"Just imagine that at giant size," she said.

Eventually, earth Betty and Barry offered to keep giant Betty company while she did the kitchen chores after dinner. Barry shyly did his best to make conversation with giant Betty, until she was busy making a fair bit of noise with the dishwasher.

"Barry, I think she either likes you a lot, or likes you enough that you might as well take the chance," said earth Betty, "I'll go back to my house and leave you two alone."

Giant Betty had loaded the dishwasher and turned it on. She came over and offered to put Barry and earth Betty on the floor.

"Could I stay and talk for a while?" asked Barry.

"If you like," said giant Betty, and lowered earth Betty to the floor, and watched her leave the room.

Giant Betty took Barry into the lounge room and sat him on the arm of the couch. They made conversation for a while, and then Barry finally spoke up.

"Giant Betty, I feel a little silly asking this, because I can't provide anything myself, but would you like to go out on another picnic, just with me?"

"I'd love to take you out on a lunch date," she said, "How about tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow would be nice," said Barry.

She had referred to it as a date!

She put him on the floor and waved goodnight to him. Barry went to the dolls village and noticed that Steve's light was still on. He went and knocked on the door.

"Hello Barry. Come in," said Steve.

"Thanks," said Barry, "I asked giant Betty out on a date, and she said yes."

"That's quite a step, given your size differences."

"I was starting to feel that way about giant girls, when the camper's daughter gave me a cookie and saved us from him," said Barry, "But I always liked Betty more than the girl. The Bettys are both pretty, but I like giant Betty most of all."

"I prefer someone my own size," said Steve.

"There haven't been many here," said Barry, "Marna and Valerie are married now. That only leaves earth Betty. Do you like her?"

"I think I've thought a lot more about that very thing, since we've had a chance to unwind and live more normal lives here," said Steve, "Maybe it's a good thing that we had this talk."

"I suppose I should turn in," said Barry, "I've got a big day tomorrow."

"I hope it goes well," said Steve, though he wondered what would happen if they ever got the ship ready to return to earth.

Barry went to sleep, glad that he was able to return the favour earth Betty had done for him. Now maybe both Bettys would find themselves in love.

The next morning, giant Betty loaded the picnic basket and set Barry down gently inside it, out of sight until they were into the forest. She found a slightly more romantic location than the site of the first picnic, and set things up on the rug. They ate and talked for some time.

"Have you ever asked earth Betty to go on a date with you?" asked giant Betty suddenly.

"No … I always liked her, but I never found the courage. Then I met you and liked you more."

"Why me, when you've known her a lot longer?"

"Because you're a giantess," said Barry.

"I guess there is a lot more of me to like," said giant Betty, "I hadn't realised that it would work in my favour when it came to choosing your Betty."

"I love the way you hold me so gently in your big fingers when you pick me up," he said.

Giant Betty took her cue and gently lifted him up and placed him on her shoulder. He looked at her pretty giant face at point blank range and admired her.

"I only asked my question, because I didn't want to be your Plan B, if you really wanted to be with earth Betty," she said, "I'm very pleased that you asked me out today, and that I'm your first choice."

She gently tilted her head towards him and kissed his entire face at once. Barry enjoyed it a lot, but was unable to reach her cheek to reciprocate. Barry found that her neck was level with his own height, and slowly walked across her shoulder, and leaned against her neck and kissed it.

"I admire the ingenuity," said giant Betty, "Now let me make things a little easier for you."

She lifted him and held him beside her cheek, which he was then able to kiss.

"Very sweetly done," she said, "By the way, does earth Betty know any of this?"

"I told her everything this week, so she could give me some advice about you," said Barry.

"Are we breaking her heart?" asked giant Betty.

"No. She and Steve like each other," said Barry, "Do you like me most, or Steve?"

"If I liked Steve, I wouldn't be here on this date with you," said giant Betty.

While Barry and giant Betty were enjoying their time together, Steve approached earth Betty and asked her if she would like to come over for dinner that night. Betty accepted and at last the Captain and Stewardess of the grounded Spindrift were on track dating. Soon they too were married.


	4. From SID to STM

Thorrg and Berna were drifting apart. Thorrg wanted the freedom of travelling all space and time with no obligations to return to the house. Berna enjoyed the comforts and felt that the STM still gave her all the freedom she needed. Eventually, they broke up and Thorrg left. He not only left the house, but he left the giant world and the 20th Century.

Berna continued exploring and observing the giant world, until she had a chance to eavesdrop on the situation at Caroline's house. One day, she revealed herself to Joey and invited him to come and visit her at her house. Joey was infatuated with the gorgeous 31 year old woman, and accepted eagerly. When she reached the house and explained about the giants, Joey was a little hesitant.

"I'd rather they didn't know about me," he said.

"They won't," said Berna, "You'll be too small to see for one thing."

With that, Berna used her STM and shrank him to tiny size. He stood on the floor of her house, which was now like Caroline's and Nick's giant house to him.

"It was fun crawling after Steve and Dan in the gardens of Los Angeles Airport, even though they don't remember it," thought Berna mischievously.

"What did you do that for?" asked Joey.

"Because you're cute. Since we're going to play house, I'm sure I can make good use of you, with dinner time coming up. You'd better run and hide, Joey. I'll be coming after you soon."

Joey realised the implications and ran and concealed himself under a couch. He soon saw Berna come into the room and crawl around searching for him. It was quite an arousing sight, and he had to admit that there were definitely some positive side effects of being eaten.

When she found him and reached for him, he saw her mouth open with glee. Admiring her happy looking lips and tongue, he found himself carried to the kitchen and cooked in the oven, until he was warm enough to take to the table. She sat down and teased him a little with the tip of her tongue and then put him into her mouth. He waited for the next move, and then she took him out and laughed.

"Don't worry, I'm not really going to do it, but it was fun pretending though. You were so convinced, weren't you?"

"I sure was," said Joey.

She restored his size and they talked.

Berna and Joey felt an instant attraction which was crush at first sight for both of them, and went on to happily date. Eventually, the giants were caught conducting another experiment, that of illegally spying on the SID with hidden bugging devices. They were both sentenced to life in the SID prison, but managed to escape and flee to another town and set up new identities. In the meantime, Berna had the house to herself, and was only an STM's activation away from inviting him instantly over from Caroline's yard any time she wanted.

Giant Betty took to inviting Barry into her bedroom in the evenings, so that they could talk and kiss together alone. Then he would return to his dolls house to sleep.

The more he looked at giant Betty eating, which they did together every night in her dining room, while the others ate in their dolls houses, the more he wanted to ask giant Betty the more awkward question. This was something about which he could not seek advice from earth Betty.

One night he decided to ease into it during their private dinner. He watched her finish her main course and then bring out the dessert, which was pavlova and whipped cream and blueberries.

"I could pretend I'm just playing a prank," he thought, and suddenly dived into the pavlova and stood up.

"What are you up to?" she asked mischievously.

Barry threw a sticky blueberry at her face, and got her on the cheek. Giant Betty wiped it with her finger and sucked it clean.

"Let's see you try that again," she teased.

He grabbed another blueberry and threw it again. Giant Betty moved quickly, so that she caught it in her mouth and swallowed it. The sight was too much for Barry. How he wanted to be eaten by giant Betty!

He kept it up until all the blueberries were gone. She reached for the punnet and tipped more onto the pavlova.

"You're full of fun tonight," she said, "But you'd better come out now, so that I can eat it properly."

Barry stepped out onto the neighbouring saucer.

"You're quite a sticky mess," she said, "Maybe I'd better give you a warm shower under the kitchen tap first."

Now Barry had his inspiration.

"You could eat it off me," he said.

"Are you sure you wouldn't mind?" she asked.

"No. I know you'll be gentle with me," said Barry.

"Thank you, then," said giant Betty.

He saw her lift the saucer and try to bring her mouth towards the cream and pavlova which stuck to him, but it seemed difficult to get her mouth in the right position.

"Maybe it would be easier to dip me into your mouth," said Barry.

"It's very brave of you to offer," she said.

"I trust you to hold me tightly," said Barry.

He sat down, and raised a leg, to give her something to hold onto. Giant Betty lifted him gently over her tilting back face, and dangled him into her mouth, holding it wide open. Then she sucked at the cream and pavlova, turning him over in her mouth, until she could taste no more, having swallowed all of it. She took him out.

"Do you feel clean, albeit rather wet?" she asked.

"Perfectly," said Barry, "I thought you did it wonderfully and efficiently."

"I suppose it would have been a shame for it to go to waste," said giant Betty.

They finished their dessert and then went into the bedroom. Barry was keen to press on in his quest.

"When you finished the pavlova that was stuck to me, could you taste just me at the end?" asked Barry.

"Yes, quite distinctly," she said in a pleasant voice.

That sounded promising.

"What did I taste like?"

"I don't know. I've never tasted anything similar," said giant Betty.

"Was it nice?" asked Barry.

"Do you mean: did you taste nice to me?"

"Yes."

"Well as it happens, I thought you tasted very nice indeed."

"I'm so glad you think so, giant Betty. I've been wanting to ask you something ever since I first saw you. I just didn't know if you'd think I was a silly little boy. If you don't like it, will you still be my girlfriend?"

"Of course I will. I can't imagine anything that would discourage me from our love."

"Well … would you like to take me on another picnic lunch … and eat me?"

"I… I don't know. Do you really want me to do that?"

"Yes, giant Betty. I want it so much. Ever since I saw you eating your first picnic lunch that day, I've wanted it with all my heart."

"But Barry, do you realise what's involved in being eaten?"

"Yes, but I've thought of everything. You're big enough to swallow me whole. You won't have to hurt me, and I'm small enough that my presence in your throat won't hurt you."

"I suppose it wouldn't, if I tried gulping you down comfortably."

"Well you like the taste of me, and I love the feel of your tongue. Will you take me out and eat me all up for your picnic lunch, sweet giant Betty?"

"When you put it that way, I suppose I could give it a try," said giant Betty, "So long as we keep this between ourselves. I don't think your friends would approve."

"I know they wouldn't, but they'll never know what happened to me," said Barry.

"You're quite a surprising boy," she said, kissed him and put him down on the floor and opened the door.

He returned to the dolls house and looked forward to the meal that he would be the next day.

In the morning, giant Betty took him out in the picnic basket again, and stopped in the middle of the forest.

"I think it might be fun to chase after you first," she said, "Would you like that?"

"What a wonderful idea. I'd love it," said Barry.

She put him down and let him run off, and then came after him until she caught him and put him back in the basket. She walked with him to the most secluded and scenic spot of all, spread the rug and sat down. Barry looked up at her in adoration.

"I'm not sure how to go about this," she said, lifting him up towards her face.


	5. Born among the Giants

"Well, if you let go of me this time, and let me lie on your tongue for a while. Then, when you're ready to gobble me down, you can just slide me into your throat and start gulping."

"You've got it all worked out, haven't you?" she said, "No wonder you chose me over earth Betty."

"This and the giant kisses," he said, "I'm ready now."

"Well have a … nice trip, honey," she said, and eased him gently into her mouth. He felt her giant tongue sucking on his small body for over an hour, while he lay there in comfort and pleasure.

At last her tongue slowly arched a little, so that he slid into her throat.

"Oh wow! Down I go!" he thought, "I love you so much, giant Betty."

He felt the movement, as giant Betty gulped once and he slid a little further down her throat.

Then she coughed below him, and her throat carried him back up into her mouth. She opened her mouth and took him out.

"That's as far as I could go to make it real for you, Barry. I took quite a chance that the first gulp wouldn't take you too far down for me to get you back. You don't really want to be eaten completely, do you? I just don't want our dating to end."

"I guess I've had the best parts of being eaten," said Barry.

"We can always do it again. I enjoyed it too," said giant Betty.

"Oh yes please," said Barry.

Alexander Fitzhugh began to feel like the odd one out. He had always been an outsider, having a rather questionable status as a fugitive bank robber in a giant land. Now he had seen all of the available girls marry (including the captivating Marna), and his young friend Barry too deeply in love to even go on mourning Chipper, let alone spend that much time on his friendship with Fitzhugh.

Alexander remembered someone whom he had never forgotten, though he had never let on to anyone about her. He collected a book from his things and asked giant Betty to take him to the giant hospital, where he approached a woman who was a little older than the girls in the Spindrift team. After a lengthy wait, he saw her walking through the hospital grounds, and let her see him.

"Nurse Helg!" he called.

She knelt down and looked at him.

"We can't talk here," she said and quickly plopped him into her bag.

When she got home, she opened the bag.

"You're one of Dan Ericson's friends, aren't you?"

"Yes. You did a fine job of removing that Enella metal from his leg."

"Is there someone else in your party in need of surgical assistance?"

"No, Miss Helg. The first time Dr Bruhl helped us, it was to save the life of my best friend Barry, who had fatal appendicitis. I had promised to translate this medical book that he gave me from my planet. He may never be released from the SID prison to benefit from it."

"It's even worse than that. I got word that he died in the prison hospital," she said.

"Then that makes my mission even more important for you. I would like to translate the book for you, giving you the secrets of advanced medicine from Germany on earth, a country whose language I am fluent in. I was going to get you to write out the translation with giant pen and paper and take a copy to Dr Bruhl if he ever got released, but now I want you to have it entirely for yourself," said Fitzhugh.

"You are indeed a noble man, one who honours his word," said Nurse Helg.

Alexander was surprised at how pleasant it felt to be appreciated by someone who knew nothing of his criminal and rather cowardly past. The closest hint he had been given of such a feeling was the presentation of the 'Hero' badge, after he had finally relented of his refusal to help Mark Wilson sacrifice a hydrogen fuel cell to create an explosive diversion and free Betty and Valerie from the clutches of two giants.

While Barry and giant Betty continued their romance, Alexander Fitzhugh met secretly with Nurse Helg on several occasions, until the translation was finally completed. At the end of this time, he wondered how to again create meaning in his life.

"Alexander, I was wondering if you would continue seeing me, even though your mission is over," said Nurse Helg, "I've become quite attached to you."

Fitzhugh agreed, and got the permission of giant Betty and Steve, to create an ongoing liason between them all, which made Nurse Helg's skills in working with little people available whenever they had any medical problems.

In the late 1990s, the three married couples began, after some discussion about life on the giant world, to have children. Dan and Marna Ericson had a daughter named Danielle, who inherited her mother's Caucasian looks. Steve and earth Betty Burton had a son named Eli. Finally Mark and Valerie Wilson had a son named Alan.

The children of the Spindrift group had been born in 1996 and 1997. By 2010, Danielle Ericson and Eli Burton were 14 years old. Alan Wilson was 13.

Alexander Fitzhugh had secretly married Nurse Helg and they had grown old together gracefully before Alexander passed away in 2008.

The Spindrift had been declared beyond repair by 1993, as corrosion had set in. The ship had not been near a repair hanger since before its flight to the Land of the Giants. The earthlings had adjusted to their new lives in the giant world.

In 2010, Eli Burton asked Danielle Ericson on a date, which had the approval of both sets of parents, who had been friends for a long time. Alan Wilson knew that there was nobody else among their group that he could ask for a date. Even had Eli not made his move, Alan had not been interested in Danielle. He knew that the only hope for romance was with a giantess.

At first Mark had been reluctant to let Alan go wandering on his own outside giant Betty's apartment. Alan had no intention of letting his parents know that he was going in search of giant courtship. Eventually, Valerie won some freedom for her son, by reminding Mark that Barry had been at least as young as Alan, when they had first landed on the giant world.

So one day, Alan asked giant Betty to sneak him off to the girls school that she had once attended as a teenage student. Betty did so before school started, and he hid himself in the gardens, waiting to see the girls arriving, and choose one to approach during morning recess break.

So intent on his purpose was he, that he did not notice that one of the mothers had spotted him in the garden, while dropping her daughter off at the school. Before he knew it, she had doubled around into the garden, crept up behind him and snatched him. She dropped him into her shirt pocket and walked out of the school to her car.

"Years ago you little people trespassed in my grandfather's model village and turned him against me!" she snarled, in reference to an event which was clearly before his lifetime, "Now I catch you trespassing in my daughter's school, probably to turn her against me too. Well I'll fix you, you little sprite, and I'll fix you good!"

"I don't know what you mean! I'm only 13," said Alan and told her of his origin while she drove.

"Well your parents know what I mean! You'll have such a short life now!" said the woman, and told him what had happened in Ackman's model village in his estate on the edge of the forest.

The woman took him home and put him into a cage which had been hanging from a tree in her garden for decoration.

"The SID thought your people escaped our world years ago, but they don't know about you. I've caught a little person in the days when people no longer believe in them. Don't worry though. You won't be alive long enough for the SID to learn about you."

The giantess stormed inside. The cage could not be locked, but that was of no help to him. He was so high off the ground, that a fall would kill him instantly. He could only await whatever method that the giantess planned to employ.

He noticed her through the kitchen window. She was setting the table with a glass, a bottle of drink, a plate, and some herbs.

"There doesn't seem to be any food," he thought, as she began tidying up some things left over from breakfast, "What can she be planning to eat with those herbs?"

It was then that he guessed what the giantess was going to do to him. He watched her going about her business, until the kitchen was spick and span, and then saw her walk out of the room.

It was only mid-morning. She would probably come to collect him at lunch time and eat him then. He could do nothing but await it.

Shortly afterwards a tennis ball flew over the neighbour's fence and landed near the base of the tree that supported his cage. He saw another woman open the gate in the fence between their properties and walk over, looking for the ball.

"It's just down here!" he called.

"Thank you!" she said, and picked up the ball, "How did you get up there?"

He told her.

"Well we can't have that. I'd better take you back to the school in time for you to meet a young lady at lunch time?" said the neighbour, and had soon smuggled him into the school gardens.

When the girls came out for lunch, he noticed one who had caught his eye before school had started, just before the giantess had captured him. He waited for a chance to alert her and her alone to his presence and then talked with her on the edge of the garden, and arranged to meet her after school.

"I won't be able to talk for long," she said, "My mother will pick me up around twenty minutes after school."

Alan Wilson enjoyed his first planned meeting with the sweet young 16 year old girl, whose name was Flora, and she promised to look out for him in the school gardens whenever he could make it. Then she got up in anticipation of her mother's arrival. Alan waited to see her depart, and was significantly surprised to note that her mother was the woman who had taken him home that morning.


	6. Service with a File

Chapter 6: Service with a File

"Of all the people to fall in love with," thought Alan Wilson, "I am going to have to be careful dating Flora, since her mother intends to do me in."

The three Spindrift couples had waited until late in life to have children, holding onto the smallest hopes of returning to earth. Eventually, their ticking clocks had warned them to have children while they could. However, as parents, they were getting on, particularly the men, who were all a few years older than their wives. Steve, Mark and Dan were glad of the home that giant Betty had given them, and were now no longer as young and fit as they had been in the 1980s.

Mark Wilson had spent a fair bit of time over the years working on inventions that would aid not only them, but ultimately aid their children, who would still need the advantage of earth technology to survive in the giant world, if they were going to venture out of giant Betty's apartment. Mark's first thought had been to improve on the practice of carrying around giant safety pins tied to giant string, to use as ropes and grappling hooks for climbing purposes. He had designed guns which would fire electromagnets on cables which would conduct electricity.

The guns had switches that could send an electrical signal along the cables to the magnets and turn their attraction power on and off. Using these devices, the earthlings could enter a room, fire the magnet gun at any metallic object, such as a high desk drawer handle or a door handle or a desk lamp, then press a button on the gun to have it reel the rider up to the metallic object. After reaching the top, completing one's business and unreeling again to get to the bottom, the user had the ability to turn off the electromagnet, and reel in the falling magnet.

He had also been keen to make rocket backpacks for flight, but was unable to get anywhere near a workable design. They looked magnificent on movies he had seen in his youth on earth, but were simply impractical for sustainable flight. He had a better chance of getting the Spindrift flying again.

Giant Betty had bought them the smallest televisions that were made. She had bought each one from a different store, as the purchase of seven small television sets might alert the shop assistant to the likelihood of her friendship with the Little People. To the earthlings, they were like cinema screens.

Over the decades, the frustration with their inability to return to their planet of origin had faded away, as they had raised their children and grown used to their new way of life. As for Barry, he had been so young when he had first reached the Land of the Giants, that he had no desire at all to abandon giant Betty. To him, it was a bonus to be on a world of giants. In 2010, the Bettys were 50, and Barry was not yet 40. As they had aged together, her giant size and older woman status had continued to keep him excited and enthralled in the company of his lovely giant girlfriend Betty.

A unique friendship had formed between the Bettys over the decades, as they talked about their lives, sharing girl talk about relationships in particular.

Flora's mother Lahtina had brought into her marriage her intense anger at the dysfunctional aspects of her childhood. By the time that Flora was ten years old, the giant woman had driven her husband to suicide. Now she clung to the only relationship she had left, namely with her daughter, and she deeply resented the presence of a Little Person in the district. It was for this reason that she was the first person in decades to make a call to the S.I.D. concerning little people.

Inspector Kobick had long since retired, but the mere mention of that phrase ensured that the call was put through directly to the current head of S.I.D. namely Inspector Camilla Lee Evers. She was the daughter of the late Dr Marad's former operative Mrs Evers, who had given a lot of trouble to the earthlings while trying to secure SID control of their giant friend's teleporter.

Camilla was committed to the SID and the dictates of the Supreme Council, but she was far more beautiful than her mother and dressed in the full elegance of a woman, wearing long skirts and dresses to work as frequently as she did in her private life.

"This is Inspector Evers speaking, Madam. Could you tell me what evidence you had of Little People presence on our world?"

"I saw one myself, in my daughter's school. I caught him and put him in a cage in my garden, but before I could bring him to you or call you, he had somehow escaped," said Lahtina.

"Where was the cage?" asked Inspector Evers.

"Hanging high from a tree in my garden," she said.

"They were known to rescue each other frequently from a predecessor of mine, by using string and safety pins as ropes and grappling hooks, but I can't imagine any of them being able to throw one that high. You'd better show me your garden. I'll be on my way up shortly, and I promise to handle your report myself. As of today, this gets my full attention," said Inspector Evers.

While her daughter Flora was still at school, Lahtina greeted Inspector Evers and showed her around the house and garden. Camilla Evers searched the garden but was unable to find any sign of where the little boy had gone.

"How old would you say he was?" asked Evers.

"He was teenaged, but he made a point of mentioning that he wasn't alive when I was a young girl. I had a bad experience with Little People once."

"What was that?"

Lahtina made no mention of her attempts to set Steve on fire, to feed Little People to a snake and her cruel act of dropping a bucket of dirt all over their dinner table. Nor did she mention that she would have finished of the current victim, if he had not escaped, that she had not originally intended to involve the SID at all.

"My grandfather was alive back then. He built a model village, and then found some Little People and wanted them to live in it. They turned him against me, and then got away. We were never as good as friends after that."

Was this just the resentment of a child that had never been treated by any psychological help? Evers continued to probe.

"How did they turn your grandfather against you?

"They set fire to one of the model village buildings and then rang the bell in the church as a fire alarm, so that I would get the blame for it. While we were attending to the fire, they ran away into the forest. That was 27 years ago though. This boy couldn't have been around then."

"Rest assured that I intend to reopen the file on the Little People and lead the most extensive search in decades. Thank you for your vital information," said Inspector Evers.

In the intervening decades, the feminist movement of earth had been repeated in the Land of the Giants as well. It had largely been due to the media influence of a woman named Bertha Frye, who had objected to Lieutenant Grayson's freeing of Steve Burton in 1984. She had been a staunch feminist for a while anyway, and had gone on to create a movement which had placed women in many key positions in the giant society by 2010.

As a result, the SID was now an almost entirely female organisation. There were some men in district offices, like the rebuilt complex which had been destroyed when the teleporter blew up after Steve and the others had escaped Dr Marad in 1984. However, SID headquarters had only female staff members in the building. Lieutenant Evers issued a memorandum to all divisions containing instructions about the apprehension of Little People.

Soon afterwards, she was discussing the case with her personal assistant Sergeant Metta.

"We didn't think that there were any of them still around. Yet we also have no reports of any other Little People space ships arriving on our world," said Evers.

"All our files indicate that sightings of Little People had stopped around 20 years ago," said Metta.

"Yet there is, at the very least, a teenaged earth boy on our world now," said Evers, "Could they have honed their skills at eluding us, and had a child and raised him in their ship? We always assumed it was hidden in the forest somewhere. How could they have avoided detection all these years?"

"Inspector, I read up on the files. One of Kobick's old reports mentions a time when the Little Captain Burton was under the influence of seasonal toadstool dust. He briefly turned against his friends and contacted Kobick, offering to turn his friends in."

"Why is that significant?"

"Because Captain Burton demanded that Kobick supply him with materials for his space ship. The ship must have been inoperative at that point. That might account for the frequency of Little People sightings back then. Perhaps they eventually succeeded in repairing their space ship and flew out of our immediate sphere of awareness to another part of the planet and raised a child there."

"But wouldn't they have returned to their own planet if their ship worked?" asked Evers.

"They would have been doing their best to get it off the ground at all, working without proper equipment, using whatever materials they could obtain from our city without risking being caught by us. Maybe they were able to get it working safely enough for ordinairy air flight, but not for space flight. That would leave them still stranded on our world, but not in the forest. Now that they assume we've forgotten about them, they've come back to plague us again."

"Well Inspector, maybe we'll have the chance to confirm that, if we get a prisoner soon," said Metta.

Alan Wilson had been reluctant to tell his parents or any of the others at giant Betty's apartment village about the run in with Lahtina. He had recalled his father Mark's reluctance to let him go out on his own. He was very keen to see more of Flora, and did not want to be banned from doing so by protective parents. This personally motivated decision had kept the Spindrift families completely unaware of the fact that giants might well know about Little People again.

Joey, Nick, Berna and Dolf were also unaware. Joey had enjoyed his romance with Berna in the earth sized house to which the giants had never returned. They had married in 1989.

In 2004, Berna had asked Joey how he would feel about her using the Space Time Manipulator, so that they could go and live on earth.


	7. Let's play House

Chapter 7: Let's play House

"But I thought you couldn't do that, from what you told me about Captain Burton and Dan Ericson in their forgotten attempt to alter time," Joey had replied.

"That was because they were going back in time and altering established history. We would only be using the STM's ability to travel in space. I know that Nick wants to stay on this world with Caroline. Hopper's been missing for a long time, but we can ask Dolf if he wants to come with us."

Dolf had declined. Since the immaturity of his teenage years, he had mellowed into a polite gentleman, and had longed for some time to have the same life that Nick had enjoyed, namely a beautiful giantess for company. So Joey and Berna had left the Land of the Giants for earth in 2004, and Dolf had moved into their old house.

The house had remained undiscovered by giants (other than its original builders) since Marna had shown it to Mark in 1983. Dolf was starting to worry though. He knew that his attraction to giant women was not normal. He knew that most giantesses would be unlikely to be interested in him too. Yet he had hoped and waited. He had secretly observed a number of giantesses going about their lives, but every time he had seen one who stirred in him any hint of chemistry, she had been either married or with a boyfriend. By 2010 he was 42, and still had not met anyone. Nick had been far more successful.

Berna and Joey had gone to earth in 2004 and lived quiet private lives together, making sure not to discuss the existence of the giant world in earshot of anyone else. Having been out of touch with Thorrg for a long time, Berna was not sure whether or not it was alright to reveal to earth's population the things that she had learned with the use of an STM, and she certainly did not want earth's leaders to learn of the existence of the STM itself.

So after six years of living alone in Berna's and Joey's old home in 2010, Dolf had come to the conclusion that he might never find a giant partner, and having reached the age of 42 alone was playing on his lonely heart.

One day he awoke to the sound of women's voices.

"It looks just the right size for Little People," said one.

"It could just be a dolls house."

"In such a secluded spot?"

Dolf lifted the blanket and sheet off his head and looked out the window. Staring down at the house were two giantesses. One of them was a few years younger than him. The other was a few years older and very beautiful.

"We'd better have a look inside," said the older woman, "Try the roof."

Dolf saw the younger woman reach down and try to pull the roof off the house.

"It's not coming loose," said the woman, "If I pull any harder, I'll break it off, Inspector."

"Inspector!" thought Dolf, "Could they be looking for me?"

"Don't do that yet, Sergeant," said the older woman, "We try to avoid damaging private property during our hunts for the Little People."

"Hunts for Little People? Sergeant?" thought Dolf, "They must be after us again. I've got to hide."

He had been sleeping only in his pyjama shorts. The women did not seem to have seen him. Part of him was so captivated by the older woman, _and the fact that she was not wearing a wedding ring,_ that he almost wanted to be found and caught. It was so frustrating that he liked her and yet had to avoid her.

As Dolf climbed out of bed and walked across into the next room to conceal himself, he realised that he had never thought through what he would have done if he had ever seen an attractive available giantess in the last 25 years. Back on earth, any boy would be taking an emotional risk in telling a girl of his feelings for her. In the Land of the Giants, one was also taking a risk of being captured.

"I'm going to have a look in the window," said Inspector Evers, "You search the surrounding plants to see if there are any little people hiding."

"Yes Mam," said Sergeant Metta.

Dolf had no doubts left about their intentions now, and listened again:

"This bed feels warm to the touch of my finger, and looks as though it's been slept in," said Inspector Evers, "There must be a Little Person around somewhere. Keep looking."

"They're not going to stop until they find me," thought Dolf.

Suddenly he saw the Inspector's giant hand coming through the door and into his room. She must have squeezed her arm through the bedroom window. He stepped backwards, so that she could not feel his presence. Eventually she gave up and retracted her hand.

"Thank goodness," he thought.

Suddenly the roof was pulled away and discarded, and he saw the inspector looking in at him.

"On the other hand, I think we have enough evidence to justify the warrantless removal of your roof. I'm Inspector Camilla Lee Evers and this is Sergeant Emma, both of the Special Investigation Department."

"Pleased to meet you," he said.

"That's very polite, under the circumstances," said Evers.

The Inspector's hand reached in towards him. Her fingers looked dainty and feminine, but her eyes were those of the leader of the planet's most powerful intelligence organisation. Her fingers closed around him, and the feeling was strangely pleasant. At last, he felt, he was actually experiencing a small taste of the physical contact that Nick had been enjoying all those years.

Yet he was also her prisoner.

The beautiful giantess lifted him out of the remains of his house and placed him into a small cage.

"Pull up the rest of the house and see if there are any more of them," said Evers.

Dolf watched as the rest of the house was demolished in no time at all. When they found no other Little People, nor any technology worth confiscating, they gathered up the undamaged furniture and decided it would be useful in making their prisoner feel comfortable in the time ahead.

"I know it's a lot of damage from your point of view, but you won't be able to return here again anyway," said Evers.

"Where are you taking me?" asked Dolf.

"SID headquarters. You'll be my prisoner indefinitely," said Evers, and began leading Metta on the long walk back.

Valerie, Marna and Dan were watching television on the carpet behind the Ericson dolls house. The program was interrupted for a news update.

"Good evening. This is Ria Portia with a Frye Network news update," said the lady news caster, "Sergeant Metta of the SID has issued a press statement in the hopes of gaining the cooperation of the general public. The SID have recently become aware of the renewed presence of Little People. These are spies and saboteurs from the planet earth, first seen on our world nearly thirty years ago. Any citizen sighting or capturing Little People are advised to contact the SID immediately and may well be entitled to a substantial financial reward from the Supreme Council."

"How could they know about us again?" said Valerie, "Has Alan been seen and caught? I think I'll call him on the radio now."

A quick conversation with Alan let Valerie know that Alan was just hiding in the grounds of a girls school, and had not had any encounters with the SID. (He did not know that his presence had been reported by Lahtina). Valerie warned him to stay on the school grounds, where the SID could not venture without good reason. To return to the apartment might risk him being caught in the process. Valerie said she would send giant Betty to collect him, but Alan insisted on staying.

Giant Betty entered the room with Barry on her shoulder.


	8. Minders Of Little Earthlings

Chapter 8: Minders Of Little Earthlings

"We saw the news break," said giant Betty, "I'll help you all I can."

"We're a lot safer from detection by the SID here," said Dan, "But you aren't. If the old laws haven't been repealed, you could be arrested for harbouring us."

"I could be arrested for harbouring one of you, namely my Barry," she said, "I have no intention of sending him out into the forest, and the rest of you can stay too."

Marna ran from house to house, calling the others to an impromptu meeting. With the Spindrift no longer likely to be restarted, and giant Betty as their host, Steve's leadership had been replaced by giant Betty's hospitality. However, his wisdom and experience in outwitting the SID was still valued by the group, even after all those years. He had had the most encounters with Kobick in the old days, and knew their methods better than anyone.

"I still think we're putting giant Betty at great risk by living out here on this carpet in a collection of dolls houses so obviously designed for a group of little people," said Steve.

"I have a wardrobe with lots of shelves on it," said giant Betty, "Could Mark help me fit it out with lights and power for each of you to claim one shelf as a floor of what could be like an apartment building to move your furniture into?"

"It should work," said Mark, "Could you hammer a strip of metal on the front of each shelf, so that we could get up to them independently with our magnet guns?"

"I'd be glad to," said giant Betty, "And I'll get rid of most of the televisions, and you can come out and take turns using the remaining one, or watch the same program together. Anyone interested in the same shows as Barry and I can join us and watch my big set too."

Plans were made, and the necessary work was done. Giant Betty would keept the door to the spare room closed and locked whenever she was out of the apartment, so that the Little People could slide under the door at will, but nobody else, not even a burglar could ever get into the spare room. She rarely had guests over, and never a man, lest the wrong person overpower her and find the Little People. When she did have female guests, giant Betty would sometimes also shut the wardrobe door, after giving the Little People advanced notice that they would have to be either in or out until the guest had gone. On those occasions, Barry would stay on the spare shelf too, to avoid being seen by any of giant Betty's guests.

When Nick and Caroline learned of the news, they went to check on Dolf and found his house destroyed with much of the furniture taken. They assumed that someone had vandalised the house and captured Dolf for their own use, and had no idea that the SID had been the ones to do some much damage to the house. Nick vowed to find out what had happened to Dolf, and Caroline offered to help. Yet they had no clues as to Dolf's whereabouts.

There was one other organisation, apart from the SID, whose members were interested in the news of the Little People. It was known as Minders Of Little Earthlings, and had been formed in 1991 by a very young man named Dal. The boy had been born with impaired hearing. Mark Wilson had designed the giant world's first hearing aid, and built it into a sea shell. Dal's family had made a fortune on the patent of the hearing aid, allowing people to believe that Dal's father had invented the hearing aid. Dal had reached adulthood and eventually taken over the company which produced the hearing aids.

The incredible success of the company had left Dal extremely wealthy. He had used his wealth to start and fund an underground organisation devoted to helping Little People. The existence of M.O.L.E. (Minders Of Little Earthlings) was neither known to the general populace, nor to the SID. Throughout the 1990s, members of M.O.L.E. would tell their stories of how the Little People had aided them to their trusted friends. Just occasionally, a friend would respond with a story of their own and be invited to join M.O.L.E.

The members had all been children in the 1980s, with no reason to bear the Little People any mistrust or malice. They did not buy into the paranoia and propaganda spread by the SID. Instead, they were grateful for the help and kindness that the Little People had shown each of them, and wanted to secretly celebrate their common happy memories, and continued to do so, even though the Little People had been rumoured to have left their world by then.

After viewing the Frye Network's reading of Sergeant Metta's media statement, Dal had called a secret meeting of M.O.L.E. All of the members were in attendance:

Garner and Toby: These two boys had been infant children who had lived at an orphanage in 1983, under the unpleasant management of a Mr Partek, until an encounter with the Little People had softened Partek's heart towards them. At the time, the boys had believed Alexander Fitzhugh to be their planet's legendary Thrombeldinbar. As adults, they had guessed the truth and realised that their tiny friend had in fact been one of the Little People.

Teddy and Leeda Farrer: They were a brother and sister who had chased Steve and Dan through a park in 1983, until a lightly covered cave in the ground had collapsed. Their mother had later told them in depth how Steve and Dan had risked their lives to rescue the children, despite expecting to remain in SID custody, and had only escaped with the grateful intervention of Mr and Mrs Farrer.

Alison Hunter: She was a camper's daughter with a crush on Barry, who persuaded her father not to aid the forest rangers in the capture of the Little People. Unlike most members of M.O.L.E., Alison was someone who had aided the earthlings more than they had aided her. Yet she had enjoyed her brief and friendly encounter with the shy little boy and was disgusted with the SID's treatment of the Little People.

Timothy: He was a Senator's son named Timmy. An alien piper with a hypnotic flute had attempted to kidnap Timmy and had been foiled twice by the intervention of the Little People. He had now followed in his father's footsteps and gained a position on the Supreme Council, where he was working hard on the introduction of legislation to have the Little People recognised as long term visitors to the planet and granted all freedom and protection from capture or any harm at all. His presentations to the Supreme Council were still in their early stages, but he would not stop until he had achieved the only result which he believed would be fair to the earthlings.

"The meeting will come to order," said Dal, "First, let me say that anything we achieve in the cause of the Little People is also indirectly a service to our own people, whose civil rights have been eroded by the SID ever since the time of Inspector Kobick. As head of the SID, he was historically known to have used the arrival of the Little People as a false flag issue to justify warrantless searches, home invasion and the rise of a totalitarian police state. The more corrupt members of the Supreme Council had been trying to push legislation in this direction for a long time before the arrival of the Little People. Kobick and others used the people's fear of advanced earth technology (which is 50 years ahead of our own) to gain greater powers for the SID and less freedom for the average citizen. Yet this is only a secondary concern. For whatever reason, whatever the circumstances, there is once more an awareness of Little People on our world. We must do all we can to help them. Can you give us progress reports, starting with Timothy."

"I've consulted with many citizens who have signed statements saying how the Little People aided them, compiled information and showed it on the floor of the Supreme Council. It is a long and hard task to convince them to reassign the SID to more productive intelligence operations and to pass legislation to protect the rights of Little People. I will continue to do all I can. I'm afraid that isn't really any different to my last report. With Little People thought, until lately, to have departed from our planet, the Supreme Council had not considered my views to be that worth of attention."

"Thank you," said Dal, "Now Garner, your report on the SID."

"When we first started this 19 years ago, we knew that we wanted a sleeper agent in the SID with access to their computer files. It could not have been Teddy or Leeda, who were known children of people who had actively opposed the SID. Toby could not be risked either, as he quickly formed a relationship with Leeda. Alison was pursuing a career as a school teacher in order to lead children into an understanding of the rights of earthling visitors to our planet. I was interested, and have assisted the SID in largely mundane and occasionally interesting operations ever since. I have waited for the dreaded day when Little People files might again be reopened, and I can now bring you the details we need," said Garner, "I've accessed the latest records posted on the system by Inspector Evers and Sergeant Metta. What do you need to know first?"

Evers had not posted the details of the capture of Dolf on the SID computer system's open files, but only on her private drive and instructed Metta to keep it between the two of them. She did not want the presence of her prisoner to be public knowledge in the department.

"How did the SID get wind of the return or rediscovery of the Little People?" asked Teddy.

"A report was made by a school girl's mother, who caught a teenaged little boy in her daughter's school. He escaped from her home the same day, and the woman called the SID. His name is unknown, but the woman is Lahtina. The daughter is Flora, who doesn't seem to know anything about the Little People. Inspector Evers investigated Lahtina's claim personally and reopened the Little People investigations," said Garner.

"The SID may not have the resources to stake out that school yesterday, but every teacher probably knows about that news cast," said Dal, "Alison, would you be willing to transfer to that school and look out for the little boy?"

"I'll try," said Alison, "I have good tenure in the education system. It depends on the need for teachers in that school, and the likelihood that any of their existing staff would be willing to transfer out."

"Teddy, you can continue working in your regular business management position. Toby and Leeda can use their special equipment to monitor SID transmissions and try to intercept any searches for Little People and prevent their capture. You'll remain on my personal private payroll," said Dal.

A few weeks later, Alan Wilson was walking through the school grounds late in the afternoon, following an after school rendezvous with Flora. He was fairly well hidden in the garden, but nonetheless he was suddenly seized from behind by a blond haired woman who must have been one of the teachers.


	9. Alan's difficult Decision

Chapter 9: Alan's difficult Decision

"Don't worry," said the teacher quietly, "I just want to get you out of here. It's not safe for you to be in our school."

She took him out to her car and sat and talked to him.

"I knew you'd be in the garden if you were there," she said, "I'm from a secret organisation called M.O.L.E. It stands for Minders Of Little Earthlings. We're set up to look after the needs of little people and protect them from capture by the SID or unsympathetic citizens. My name is Alison Hunter. I transferred to this school when I heard about Lahtina's capture of you and your escape. I thought you'd be back here hiding in the garden. It is simply unsafe for you to stay here. All the other teachers are on the lookout for you, not to mention some of the girls."

"I can't go though. It' my only chance to meet Lahtina's daughter Flora," said Alan, "I love her."

"Does she feel the same way?"

"I think so."

"Then you could stay with her, and she could look after you and hide you from the school and from her mother too."

"The only thing is that I don't know how she'll take the truth about her mother," said Alan, "I've been trying to work up the confidence to raise the subject for weeks."

"Well I know it's difficult when a parent and a child are divided over the issue of Little People. I once met a sweet cute young boy called Barry."

"Barry Lockeridge?" asked Alan.

"I don't know his last name. It was 27 years ago. He'd have been around the age you are now," said Alison, "But my father was after the bounty on all of them, and they had to take his gun and shoot him in the arm with it to protect themselves. Still I took their side and talked him into letting them go, having seen how they bandaged him up."

"I think he's a friend of my parents," said Alan.

"Is he … with anyone?" asked Alison.

"Yes. She's about ten years older than him, but they've been in love for decades," said Alan, and decided not to let slip any information that would put Alison in the position of having to guard the secret of a relationship between Barry and a giantess.

"Don't make Flora miss out like I did," said Alison, "I never married after that. Nobody my own size quite caught my fancy in the same way. They didn't have Barry's sweetness or the shyness that comes with such a tiny boy. Trust Flora with the truth. If you ever think I could help by talking to her, then ask me to, but don't let anyone else see you."

"Could you ask Flora to meet me on the outskirts of the school grounds during lunch time tomorrow? I'll tell her then. It would be good for her to know that she has a friend among the teachers too."

"I will," said Alison.

The next day, Alan told Flora about her mother's initial capture of him.

"I'm so sorry to hear that," she said, "I don't always agree with my mother's decisions. I do think it would still be safer for you to live at my place. I'll hide you well, and my mother will not be looking for you anyway. She more likely thinks you'd be happier at the school, since that's where she caught you in the first place. She has no idea of our relationship. So she won't have any reason to imagine that you'd have returned to a place from which you had to escape."

Flora took him home that day and kept him concealed in her shirt pocket until she was ready to go to her room after dinner and shut the door.

That night Flora took him to her bedroom and let him sleep beside her head on the pillow, on the far side of the room from the door, so that her head would conceal him if her mother should open the door and look in during the night. In the morning, she would put him in a safe hiding spot in her room until she returned from school.

Flora finished school, came home and went into the kitchen, looking forward to a drink from the refrigerator before seeing Alan again. To her surprise, she found her mother sitting at the table talking with Alan.

"Hello Flora," said her mother, "I found your little friend and we're getting on well now. He's welcome to stay here as long as you like."


	10. Preventing Dolf's Escape

Chapter 10: Preventing Dolf's Escape

All of Inspector Evers' staff had gone home from SID headquarters, except for Camilla Evers herself.

"You might as well tell me what happened to your space ship," she said, "My people will find it eventually."

"I haven't got a space ship," said Dolf, "I'm glad you stuck around though."

"And why is that?" she asked.

"You're the most beautiful woman I've seen," said Dolf.

"It's not the information I've been seeking during our long interrogation sessions, but thank you kindly, small Sir," said Camilla.

"Do you … like me that way at all?" asked Dolf.

"You do look decidedly cute," she said.

"Are you involved with anyone?"

"I never really had time," said Camilla, "I was always working long days to rise up in the ranks."

"Is that why you stayed back today?" asked Dolf.

"Well I must say I enjoy fencing with you in our interrogations."

It wasn't really a definitive answer. However, he did find it appealing.

"Since I haven't really told you anything, I take that as a precious compliment," said Dolf.

"I won't forget yours in a hurry either," said Camilla.

"I'll tell you about my ship, if you give me something in return," said Dolf.

"That depends what it is. I'm not authorized to make any concessions to Little People."

"Would a kiss be a concession?"

"Consider it a deal," said Camilla.

"I came here on a flight around 28 years ago with three other boys. We've all gone our separate ways and haven't seen the craft since we arrived. I could show you where we last left it, if you take me into the forest, and if I can relocate and recognise the spot."

"You could be making that up," said Camilla, "It doesn't really help me much."

"I've denied you any responses until now," said Dolf, "I admit I might have been tempted to invent a story for you in order to confuse the SID, but I would not make up anything in order to win a kiss from you. You can be sure that I've told you the truth."

"I believe you," she said, "And you didn't even need to make that offer. I agreed because I've been after that information since I caught you. But I'd have given you a kiss anyway, if you'd simply asked."

She pressed her giant lips to his face. If being Camilla's captive had bothered him at all from the moment he'd felt her lovely fingers lifting him out of his house, it certainly didn't bother him now. He wouldn't have left her by means of escaping her, even if he could.

"That was lovely, Camilla."

"I feel the same, but I'm still committed to keeping you in custody and questioning you for more information," said Camilla, "I'll never let you go."

"I understand, and the kiss made it well worth it."

"I'm sure there's no little person I'd rather have caught though," said Camilla.

"Can we have more moments like this when you're not on the SID clock?" asked Dolf.

"We'll see," said Inspector Evers, with a faint trace of a smile on her face.

Alan Wilson went on to explain to Lahtina about his parents and their friends, leaving out the mention of giant Betty and her apartment. He would not reveal their location to her, but told her that Mark and Valerie were his parents, and described the team. Lahtina recalled them from her initial encounter in her grandfather Ackman's model village. Yet the resentment had gone. If anything, she could think of several reasons for the Little People to have resented her.

One day she asked Alan if he could arrange for her to meet with the leader of the Little People. Alan agreed to make his request, merely describing her to Steve as his hostess, not as someone who had begrudged the Little People when they'd first arrived in the Land of the Giants.

"He doesn't wear his Captain's uniform anymore," said Alan, pleased that giant Betty had sewed several new clothes for each of them, "But he's definitely the one you remembered was called Steve."

Steve agreed to go and meet Alan's host, and invited Mark and Valerie to come and see how their son was doing too, and asked giant Betty to take them to meet the woman in the forest.

As a precaution, they had giant Betty wear a long dark wig, glasses, and a hat.

Lahtina took Alan Wilson with her, and the two giantesses put the Little People down in a clearing and sat down beside them to talk.

"Your Alan's friendship with me and my daughter has made me realise how childishly cruel and monstrous I was to you," said Lahtina.

"When?" asked Mark.

"Do you remember my Grandfather's model village?

"You're that young lady?" said Steve, "I'm sorry I didn't recognise you after all these years."

"I'm the one who should be sorry. I'm here to assure you that I'll only have the best interests in mind for you all from now on. I'll look after Alan, and let him socialize with trustworthy students his own age from my daughter's school. If there's ever anything else I can do to put right the atrocities I brought on you before, I will," said Lahtina. Here is your boy, Alan. If you have any reason to doubt me, then take him with you and I will not follow."

"It was a long time ago, and we did interrupt your life with our arrival," said Steve.

Mark slipped a band onto Alan's wrist, and showed him a device attached to it.

"I'll quickly tell you how to use this, just in case you need it," he said, "Take good care of it."

Lahtina took them to the model village and invited them into the hotel lounge. Steve, Mark, Valerie and Alan went in and saw a magnificent meal spread before them. It was a buffet of all the finest foods supplied in quantities suitable for the Little People.

"I know it's late, but I believe I owe you a good meal at that table," said Lahtina.

"It's a queen's banquet," said Valerie eagerly.

"Help yourselves," said Lahtina, "I'll bring over some lunch for your friend who's my size too."

They enjoyed the meal and then left. On the way home, Steve thought about being carried by giant Betty. It was pleasant enough, but he was glad to have a Betty whom he could take in his arms and hold as a physical equal.

How fortunate for both himself and Barry that the younger man felt the other way about the Bettys.

In the weeks ahead, Dolf enjoyed being questioned by the Inspector, enjoyed lying on his bed in the cage, looking out at her as she took calls and assigned her operatives to follow up on any Little People calls, as well as overseeing any other cases handled by the SID.

"Do you have a spare cage at home?" he asked her one evening, just as she was about to leave.

"Standard policy for all staff of this department," said Camilla, "Why?"

"Well there's an obvious security risk in my asking you to what's left of my house, but I was wondering if we could … go to your place for a date," said Dolf and looked at her confident assertive eyes in uneasy embarrassment, "… I'm sorry. It was a ridiculously audacious thing to ask of the head of SID."

"Not at all. I think I've got an old dolls house bed you could use in a cage at my house," said Camilla.

She was wearing a long dress with no pockets that day. It was very attractive, but made the practicalities of smuggling him out of SID headquarters a little more problematic. She encircled him in her fingers and left the building, using only her other hand to lock the doors and open the door of her car. She sat him in the glove box, left it open and drove him to her home.

Once inside she prepared their dinner and then served them both. After dinner, they talked for a while at her couch. She then took him to her bedroom, put him on her dresser table and sat down at it. She took out a tiny set of handcuffs attached to a tiny chain.

"These have been perfected for Little People just recently," she said, and attached the far end of the chain to a necklace, "The key is not one that is turned. It's a magnetic remote switch."

She lifted a small pencil shaped device and then attached the handcuff to one of his ankles, asked him to close it gently himself, and then used the remote switch to lock it in place.

"You don't need to do this," he said, "I'll be secure in the cage, won't I?"

"If that's what you'd prefer," she said, and then slowly and gently lifted the necklace and put it on, while he clung to the necklace.

He found that he could turn over without hurting his leg, and lay down against her neck.

"I see what you mean, Camilla. This is the best night of my life," said Dolf.

"I think you'll find the chain is long enough to reach my face," said Camilla.

No wonder she was head of the SID. She was so calm and collected.

Dolf climbed up onto her face and kissed her lower lip in admiration and then made his way down to the pillow and lay against her cheek. They talked themselves to sleep and dreamed happily about each other.


	11. Success and Celebration

One night shortly after that, all of the Spindrift families were watching their television sets with keen interest. Giant Betty had told them of a well advertised Frye Network special television interview that would be on that night, concerning the Little People.

"This is Ria Portia, with our special interview with senator Tim of the Supreme Council," said the news girl, "Senator, I'm given to understand that you've been the driving force behind the legislation which the Supreme Council has just passed today concerning the Little People."

"That's correct, Ria," said Tim.

"Can you tell us how these new laws will affect the Little People, and indeed us, as well?"

"Many years ago, it became known to us that the Little People had indeed landed on our planet. As they seemed unwilling to leave it, despite being in constant danger of apprehension or worse, our government must have suspected that their space ship had been made inoperable. Now it should be said that our government did not have space travel technology, which implied that the Little People had advanced their scientific developments further than we had. This caused a paranoia to sweep through my father's generation on the Supreme Council. Little People were branded as enemy alien invaders and spies, despite their relatively harmless size. When we should have been seeking to help them to cope with life on our planet, we instead sought to capture and imprison and interrogate them, denying them the very civil rights available to people of our own size. This came at a time when our own concepts of civil liberties had already begun to erode among our own people anyway. Citizens were encouraged with both legalistic threats and offers of rewards, to hunt down Little People and hand them over to the S.I.D. Some citizens complied. Others, it has since become known to me, captured the Little People privately and tried to exploit them for their own ends. In extreme cases, there were citizens who almost make me ashamed to be a member of our people at all. These malfeasants actually attempted to murder the Little People for sport or amusement, or for the sake of a cheap string of movie stunts. Only a few years after their arrival on our planet, the Little People seemed to disappear. It was assumed that they returned to their own planet by means which had subsequently become available, perhaps a rescue. We have only recently learned that there are Little People sightings on our world again. I have spent a long time putting their case to the Supreme Council, which has mellowed in the new generation since the early days of Little People reports. It is my pleasure to announce the new laws," said Tim, "All Little People are to be granted the rights and privileges of permanent guests of our planet. It is against the law to manhandle a Little Person without their permission, or to jeopardise a Little Person's safety or freedom in any way. As of tomorrow, the S.I.D. are to enforce these new laws, acting, not as a threat to the Little People, but as their advocates and protectors. They are to release any Little People in their custody, and to arrest and imprison anyone who is caught abusing the Little People in any way. Animals are another factor. It is now the duty of any citizen witnessing an animal attack on the Little People, to drive the animal away and ensure the safety of the Little People…"

"Senator Tim, how do you think society will react to the blanket freedoms that your law offers these extra terrestrial outsiders?" asked Ria.

"I think that the very word 'outsiders' is indicative of the misconceptions that have plagued our society for too long, that these new laws are set up to overcome. Some of our society's people have cared for the Little People in the first place, having been the recipients of their benevolent acts of kindness. I've been meeting unofficially with them for some time. Others have been too easily led by paranoid propaganda and hostile legislation in the past. I can only appeal to them to embrace the new laws with compassion and decency," said Tim.

Elsewhere, SID Inspector Camilla Evers and her captive boyfriend Dolf were watching the show with as keen an interest as the Spindrift families.

"I think that means you're free to go," said Camilla.

"Oh no. Please don't send me away!" said Dolf, "I want to stay with you! I love you. This just makes it less complicated to enjoy it."

"Aren't you sweet?" exclaimed Camilla, and kissed him with more affection than ever before, "I often wondered how genuine your interest in me really was. Little People are known to try any trick to enable their freedom to be obtained."

Dolf recalled the ruse that Nick and Captain Burton had once used on the giant trapper, and wondered how much acting had gone into Nick's contribution to the staged physical fight between them. When the two parties had originally met, there had been a lot of distrust and animosity, even between the earth teams. Now things had come a long way, so that even giants were willing to trust and cooperate.

Nick himself was enjoying the broadcast with his giant wife as well.

"Darling!" she said, "We no longer have to hide our marriage. We can go public, and share it with my friends!"

Back at giant Betty's apartment, giant Betty came into the village room and sat down with Barry on her shoulder and called the Spindrift families out to talk about the broadcast.

"That senator seems to have opened a lot of giant doors for us," said Steve, "I wonder what made him so sympathetic to our needs.

"The timing is ironic," said Mark, "It's taken me decades of work, but I've re-invented Professor Kermus's teleporter. I was going to tell you all after a few more days of tests."

"You're joking!" said Marna Ericcson, "A teleporter."

"You weren't with us at the time we had our adventure with the original device," said Dan, "Steve made a heat-of-the-moment decision to destroy it after teleporting us all away from the giants. The professor said he'd never make another one. How did you build it without even a circuit diagram?"

"I just put my mind to work on the concept," said Mark, "Like I said, it took decades. It stood to reason that, if earth technology, particularly in my company, was far ahead of the giants' technology, then I must be able to re-engineer something which had been invented by one of the more intelligent and scientifically advanced giants."

"How much testing have you done?" asked earth Betty.

"He's sent me to earth and brought me back," said Valerie, "I've even seen how my investments have grown in my absence, well managed by Smithy."

"We can keep them secret from both the giants and our own people on earth, privately construct more there and in this apartment, and be able to enjoy the new freedoms from Tim's laws on this world and our old nostalgia locations on earth. There's no reason for any of our families to be broken up."

"Mark, you're something else," said Steve.

"I would like to see earth again," said Barry, "But I'm a forgotten orphan there. I would like to spend most of my time here with my wife. There's no way for her to be able to come to earth."

"Well the first teleporter moved giant objects and even the Professor himself when I used it," said Steve, "Maybe she could be sent to an isolated location on earth, where nobody but us could see her, if that's of any value to you both."

"It would be nice to see your world just briefly, or maybe at night when I wouldn't be noticed," said giant Betty.

"We just don't want to alert earth to a lot of concepts which would be unknown to them in 2010," said Mark.

"We'll be careful," said Steve, "And I can't speak as a leader as I did in the old days. This is your achievement, Mark, and I believe that you and Valerie should administer the regulations of its use and our small society's security. My leadership faded away as a concept when the Spindrift became obsolete. I wouldn't even desire to step on your territory now."

For a brief second, the two recalled their ancient disagreements, and even the occasional punch-up.

"It's very ancient history, but thanks," said Mark.

"It would be nice to meet this Senator and his friends though," said giant Betty, "I'm sure they must be very loyal to our cause."

"I was thinking that same thing," said earth Betty.

Barry laughed.

"I'm sure we can trust them to meet at one of their homes," said giant Betty, "I would like to keep this location secret from society at large, and not have other 'giants' intruding on the room here that's been your village home for so long. If word got out, you'd be as troubled for privacy as Igor Krul was in his day."

So it was that giant Betty contacted Senator Tim, and was invited to take the Spindrift families to meet his friends. They met in one of Dal's luxurious dining rooms, where Tim introduced them all to each other with a quick show of names, and a short summary of their initial meetings with the Little People in 1983 and 1984.

Garner and Toby, Teddy and Leeda Farrer, Senator Timothy, schoolteacher Alison Hunter, Dal, and giant Betty Lockeridge were all seated around the giant table, with tiny provisions and furniture placed on it for Dan & Marna & Danielle Ericcson, Steve and Betty & Eli Burton, Barry Lockeridge, and Mark & Valerie & Alan Wilson.

Toby and Leeda were obviously in love, giant Betty noticed.


	12. Growth of a Dream

"I didn't recognise any of you," said Steve, "Not even you, when I saw you on television, Tim."

"I'll never forget the way you and Mr Fitzhugh conned that Piper into letting me go," said Tim, "I only wish he'd lived to see my people living in peace with yours."

"So you're dating a giant girl too, Alan," said Alison, "One of my students at that."

"Flora and I like each other very much," said Alan, "Her mother was against it at first, but she's nice to me now."

"It's hard to believe you're the girl at the cave-in who wanted me to keep me as a doll," said Dan, "How are your parents?"

"They're doing well, and glad to hear of our new laws too."

"Your mother helped us get away," said Barry, "And your father stepped in front of Kobick's sergeant's gun to make sure of it."

"Steve and Dan saved _our _lives," said Teddy.

"We don't have any need to know where your spaceship is hidden," said Dal, who ironically had been the only member of Minders Of Little Earthlings to have moved the Spindrift to a new location as a child, "But we offer you our full support, and we will continue to monitor (through Tim) the developments at the Supreme Council meetings, to make sure that our laws reflect your best interests. Our own space travel technology is still in infancy, but if we can help to return you to your planet, I will do what I can to arrange assistance from sympathetic scientists."

"We've adjusted over the years, married up and had families," said Valerie, keen to give an honest answer without revealing Mark's invention, "Even before the wonderful news of your work in the Council, we have come to think of this world as our home."

"And I'm married to giant Betty," said Barry.

"And Alan's relationship with Flora would break up if they went back to earth," said giant Betty.

"But we appreciate the kindness of your offer and all you've done for us all the same," said Mark.

The Spindrift families and members of M.O.L.E. enjoyed their celebration party well into the night, and then giant Betty took them all back to her apartment. It occurred to Eli Burton, that Mark's invention would make it much easier for them to get around on the giant world without assistance too.

Alan could certainly see how that would make his relationship with Flora easier and safer to manifest. There might still be giants who could be a threat to their safety, though their actions would now be more illegal than ever before.

Barry Lockeridge snuggled against giant Betty's cheek, as the lovely lady dozed off to sleep. For the first time in years, he found himself wondering about many things. Why was the giant technology behind earth's in a world that was largely so similar? Why was their fashion sense so compatible to that of earthlings on 1960s television shows that Barry had seen in reruns on earth? Most of all, Barry wondered happily, why were there two Bettys?

Suddenly time seemed to freeze, and a man walked into view on giant Betty's pillow, but he was not visible to either the frozen Barry nor the frozen sleeping giant Betty Lockeridge. He seemed to be talking to himself, as he stared away from the sleeping pair.

"Consider for a moment, if you will," he said, "the fact that I have come from the future, spent most of my time on earth in the late 20th century, and used my future abilities to pass myself off as a 20th century earth man, while freezing time and restarting it, while allowing other people to explore various possibilities, to revisit forgotten times from their pasts and to see concepts which, in their time, would otherwise be considered as mere science fiction. Consider that two renegades from my society (named Oles and Fielder) once visited a giant planet in 1984, where they committed giant murders and threatened the crew of a small group of visitors from earth to this giant planet, before one of our law enforcers followed them back in time to defeat them. Now, submitted for your approval is the case of one Barry Lockeridge, a boy who grew to manhood on a giant world, who fell in love and married a giant woman who both resembled and exceeded the visual image of the older woman of his dreams. Mr Lockeridge now finds himself pondering on the unanswered questions of his past. Now he will not merely ponder, but he will go back to 1983, both in mind and body, so that his younger self can explore the possibilities and the probable answers, courtesy of a realm only I can make accessible …. The Night Zone."

Barry Lockeridge was suddenly surprised. He was no longer on giant Betty's pillow. He was at Los Angeles Airport. He wondered what was going on. Had Mark used him as a test subject for the teleporter? No. It couldn't be the case, because beside him was his dog Chipper, alive!

Barry tied Chipper's leash to a seat in the V.I.P. room and ran to the Mens room. He looked into the mirror in amazement. He was once again a boy on the outset of adolescence! Yet he had all his memories of the decades spent in the Land of the Giants. How could this have been happening? It was as puzzling as his first encounter with giant Betty in a timeline he was sure that he had lived. It surely could not have all been a dream.

Barry returned to the waiting room, and was soon ushered aboard the Spindrift by a young 23 year old Betty Hamilton, stewardess. The giant Betty he remembered had aged gracefully and Barry still loved her with all his heart, but it was interesting to see the young earth Betty from this perspective again. He remembered his reflections on giant Betty's pillow that night, and wondered if he was hallucinating, imagining things, or possibly undergoing the self-hypnosis trick that Alexander Fitzhugh had once taught him. Had Fitzhugh acquired such a technique in his years as a practiced con man on earth, or by finding it in the German medical book he translated for his giant wife Nurse Helg? Barry just realised that both he and his best friend had been the only members of the original Spindrift team to marry giantesses. Now it seemed, if he ever got back to the reality he knew, he might watch Alan and Flora grow into a similar situation and relive his youth by proxy.

Proxy? It occurred to Barry that he was somehow getting another chance to relive his youth in person.

Barry looked around, familiar with his memories of the 1983 Mark, Valerie and Fitzhugh, yet aware that they did not know him at this point. They were all acting as they had done on that first day. The Spindrift took off. This time Barry could picture Steve and Dan in the cockpit, piloting the ship into the surprise of their lives.

He could tell Betty! He could prevent it. It seemed wrong though, to cheat history, to change time. He thought of the ramifications. He would surely prevent Dan's marriage to Marna and the birth of Danielle, if they never met on the giant world. He would most likely prevent Mark and Valerie from getting acquainted and marrying and having Alan as their son, and hence prevent Alan and Flora from dating. Steve and earth Betty might still pair up, and that would leave Barry without either Betty. Besides, if he ever got back to the present in 2010, Barry would still have his giant wife, and Mark's teleporters would still enable them to return to earth and back whenever they liked, and best of all, the giants had accepted them as friends now.

For better or for worse, Barry knew that he had to let history play out as he remembered it. Then another incident began to replay. Betty Ann Hamilton came over to Barry's seat.

"Mam, do you think those cousins of mine will show up?" he asked, wondering if that was how he had originally worded it.

"… if they don't, honey, I'll take you home with me, and you'll never be an orphan again," said Betty.

"But would I be the adopted son of Steve and Betty Burton with Eli as a little brother?" he wondered, as he enjoyed the feel of Betty stroking his hair.

Betty returned to the cockpit to talk to Steve and Dan, as the journey began to get rough. Eventually the ship made a forced landing, take off again, and make another forced landing. Then Steve and Dan went out to investigate. Barry watched the cynical reactions of Mark Wilson and Valerie Scott, as Steve and Dan returned to tell a tale of being almost run over by a giant car, which had simply passed harmlessly over their heads.

"Maybe you were lying down, tired and thought it was a giant car," said Mark, "I'm a scientist engineer. There could be lots of explanations."

"I thought it was a normal sized car too, when we first saw it from a distance," said Dan, "It was pitch dark, except for the headlights."

"My reaction too," said Steve, "But then it got closer, and I felt something was obviously strange about the angle of vision from me to the headlights, and the scale of everything. Then it just passed over us. Even the wheels on either side were taller than my house."

Mark made some crack about fairytales, which Barry recalled, as he also remembered that Fitzhugh would be needing his moral guidance in the near future.

After an encounter with a giant cat, a giant entomologist and his wife and a giant dog in a garbage dump, they returned to the Spindrift and collapsed on some make shift sleeping arrangements.

Would he have to live the whole timeline again?


	13. Pool of Resources

The next day, the team met outside the ship. It was late in the morning, as they had all slept in.

"The first thing we have to do is get this ship off the ground by any means necessary," said Steve.

"I'll help all I can," said Mark, "And I'm sorry I didn't believe you, Captain."

"Forget it," said Steve.

"I feel sick," said Valerie.

"What are your symptoms?" asked Betty, "I'm not too good myself."

"It could be shock setting in, after all we've just been through and taken in," said Fitzhugh.

"I'm queasy, and uncomfortable," said Valerie.

"So am I," said Betty, "What about the others?"

The men and Barry all said that they were fine, and Chipper was still sleeping.

Betty clutched her stomach in pain, while Valerie pressed her hands to her forehead. Then both women suddenly began to grow until they were as tall as the giants who had troubled them the night before.

"Could that green stuff we flew through have affected the girls' metabolism" asked Steve.

"It must have taken affect after they calmed down and slept it off," said Dan.

"How do you both feel?" asked Steve.

"Fine now, Skipper," said Valerie, "How about I take a walk into town and find out a bit more about our new home. It looks like you boys aren't in for the same size upgrade that helped us fit in here."

"Don't rub it in, Valerie," said Betty, "I'll stay here to protect the ship while you learn what you can."

"I guess it's a logical step," said Steve.

Valerie was gone for three hours, before she came back with the most amazing news.

"You won't believe it," she said, "Captain, did you say we flew through some green stuff?"

"Yes," said Steve.

"Was it tangible material, or just an image?" asked Valerie.

"It was more like a force field," said Dan.

"A space warp!" said Mark.

"You're close, Mr Scientist, and quite cute, might I add," said Valerie, "It was a time warp. We landed not that far from Los Angeles Airport, in the same city of Los Angeles, but in an earlier time period. Captain, it's 1968!"

"1968?" said Mark, "Then you didn't just become giants. You grew back to normal size! The warp had a side effect of shrinking the ship and all of us. For you girls, it's worn off, but for us it won't."

"But I was just a little girl in 1968," said Betty.

"I was in my teens, and already quite wealthy," said Valerie, "I'm sure I could ask my mother and my younger self to give us a place of our own to stay on my property, at least for as long as we need it."

Barry began to see that the timeline was different now. The night before it had all been the same. Now he was beginning to see one possible way that there could have been two Bettys. Maybe, in the previous timeline, the shrunken Betty had never grown back to normal size, and had somehow met up with her past self grown to adulthood, except … It was all still too confusing. That theory wouldn't have worked out. Yet here they were on earth in 1968, with all the males and Chipper shrunken along with the ship and their clothes.

In the weeks ahead, as they settled into a spare lodging on Valerie's mother's huge estate, Barry marvelled at the interaction between teenaged Valerie 1968 and the time travelling Valerie 1983, who had stopped flirting with Mark Wilson. Being tiny sized had made this timeline's Mark Wilson disinterested in Valerie. Yet Steve Burton had not taken on the leadership role this time. Captain Burton had clearly recognised that this was Valerie's show. She was their host in two time aspects, and his physical superior.

One day, Valerie decided to let the Spindrift float in the pool, while Steve piloted it around as a surface boat. It would not have been that different from Barry's recollections of the quicksand journey in the previous timeline.

Steve enjoyed the ride around the water, with Barry resting in the co-pilot's chair, as they both looked out the window, until Valerie emerged from the house wearing nothing but a bra and a g-string. Her revealing swimsuit caught both their eyes, although Barry could not help wishing that Betty would do the same. She was apparently in the house talking to Fitzhugh.

Steve was infatuated. He had hardly had time to notice her, when they'd first boarded the Spindrift, and had thought the girl way out of his league. Yet here she was striding towards the water like a giantess. She stepped down slowly into the heated pool and swam underwater towards the ship, and then surfaced right in front of them.

"Come to the door, Barry," she said, lifting the Spindrift out onto the grass beside the pool.

Steve opened the door, and let Barry leave the ship.

"Betty and Fitzhugh are expecting you for lunch," said Valerie, "I'm staying here to help Steve with the water tests."

Barry went inside, while Steve and Valerie returned the Spindrift to the water and began racing. Steve was a first class pilot of the ship, even in the water, but he was hard pressed to compete with the speed of Valerie's swimming. Eventually she carried the ship up out of the water and over to the plastic table beside a lean back chair, where she lay comfortably and looked at him.

"That was fun, Skipper," she said.

"It was … quite a challenge," said Steve.

"Getting a date with you seems to be a bigger one," said Valerie, "Aren't you interested?"

"I sure am," said Steve, "I just didn't think there'd be much in it for you, from your giant perspective."

"Why Skipper, I do admire your modesty," said Valerie, "But who else can live in 1968 with a doll sized man in red and grey tights for a future husband?"

In the house, Fitzhugh finished his lunch and took Chipper for a walk, which left Barry and Betty alone to talk. Mark had been the most reclusive one, since the move to Valerie's 1968 home. He had become obsessed with finding a way to reverse the effects of the shrinking warp. Fitzhugh had no desire to grow. His twisted mind was already struggling with ungodly temptations to use his tiny size to rob banks undetected, as he resigned himself to the knowledge that he could have everything in abundance without crime now anyway, at his current stature.

"So here we are," said Betty, "What do you think of teenage Valerie? She'd be just right for you."

"The Valeries are both pretty," said Barry, thinking that this Valerie was with Steve, leaving Betty free for him and also the relative giant that he was used to loving in the previous timeline, "But I've always loved you, Betty. It … seems like it's been for decades."

"You're quite a kid," said Betty, and Barry recalled that Valerie had used those words when Barry had insisted, in the previous timeline, on staying to try to free an amnesiac Fitzhugh from his involvement with giant museum thieves.

Time froze again.

The man from the far future was now back in his own time, standing in a large room, looking at a picture of a tiny Barry Lockeridge talking to a full sized Betty Hamilton on the floor, as she lay on her stomach.

"This last offering," he said, "Was a painting which speaks to its viewer of possibilities best left briefly explored but then largely forgotten, as Mr Barry Lockeridge returns to his rightful time, age and place, after a brief but enlightening foray into … The Twilight Gallery."

Barry found himself back on giant Betty's pillow. She looked lovely, sleeping peacefully beside the desk lamp, which she often left on so that he could admire her beauty for a while, before reaching across to the tiny cord switch beside him on the pillow. It had all been an interesting experience, yet not a dream, as it had physically felt so real. He wondered if there was any truth to the answers that his alternate time trip had uncovered. Yet none of it mattered. He was in 2010, with the ability to return to earth whenever he liked, married to beautiful giant Betty, in the Land of the Giants.


	14. The Ways of Space and Time

Mark Wilson had not been as fortunate on earth as Valerie. His engineering company had fallen victim to a hostile takeover during his lengthy absence from earth. Though his identity may not have come into dispute, his ownership of the company was a thing of the past. Valerie was not in the least concerned with such details, and was willing to let her own wealth and propety sustain the family on earth. Besides that, all of the Spindrift families would continue to have homes in the spare room village in giant Betty's apartment. It would be easy to travel from one world to another in secrecy, using the teleporters.

Mark had spent part of his time as a teacher to the three new children (Eli Burton, Alan Wilson and Danielle Ericcson) over the years, so that they were well educated in mathematics and science. Earth Betty had taught them English, and Dan had given them physical education training as well. There were no records of the births of the three teenagers in any earth database. So it was easy enough for them to come and go as they pleased without being required to vote, attend school or any of the usual compulsory obligations of minors.

The first earth based teleporter was hidden in one of Valerie's mansions, after being built in giant Betty's apartment and then teleported to Valerie's mansion using the teleportation power of the apartment based teleporter#1.

The Spindrift families soon discovered the internet, which had not been invented on the giant world. Mark was the most adept at gaining the optimum use of a search engine, and soon found a website which detailed the mystery disappearance of Flight 612 from Los Angeles to London in 1983. People had raised all sorts of speculations, but there had never been any discovery of a damaged Spindrift crash site anywhere on earth.

Steve began to wonder if it was wise to send the Spindrift back to earth with the teleporter. There was the unlikely chance that it would have been found in giant Betty's apartment, but the ship had sentimental value to them all now.

Back in the 1980s, Thorrg has used his Space Time Manipulator (STM) to explore the giant world in 1983, at a time before he and Berna had originally met Steve and Dan. Thorrg came upon a scene which caught his attention. A beautiful woman in a breathtakingly elegant green dress was walking through the bush. She had long dark brown hair, and was accompanied by a fellow giant, who was carrying a small camera. The man positioned himself and began to take some photographs of her.

Unknown to Thorrg, he was now being watched by the recently arrived 1983 Spindrift group, who were in the park at the time. It was also unknown to Thorrg, that the woman was soon to be killed. The photographer would make an unwelcome attempt to kiss the model, and she would try to fight him off, with the result that she would be knocked to the ground and strike her head fatally on a rock. At least, that was how it happened in the original timeline.

"Who's that?" asked Dan.

"I don't know," said Steve, "But we can't help him without revealing ourselves to the giants. He seems quite confident to stay out in the open. Let's look at the giant's camera, while he's talking to his model."

As they had done the first time, the earthlings examined the camera, and Mark began to consider what use could be made of the lens in getting the Spindrift into the air again.

Time continued on its original course, at least for the moment. The giant grabbed the model and began to kiss her. Thorrg saw the struggle, and wondered how to use his Space Time Manipulator as an offensive weapon. It had the power to shrink an earthling, but not a giant. It could have teleported an earthling safely away from the giant as well, but not the giant woman.

Thorrg came to the conclusion that he would have to play decoy.

"Hey you!" he called to the giant, "Pick on someone much less than your own size!"

"Why you little nuisance!" said the giant, "Mind your own business!"

He turned and tried to step on Thorrg. Using his STM to teleport only a few giant steps backwards, Thorrg at a glance, appeared to have jumped with the speed of a flea, though not the comparative size of such a tiny insect. Again and again, the giant tried to step on Thorrg.

"I'll crush you yet!" he yelled, as the chase took him out of sight of the Spindrift team.

Unaware of Thorrg's tiny Space Time Manipulator and the true abilities it gave its user, the model assumed that Thorrg had been lucky to dodge the man so far, but could not continue indefinitely. Her poor little heroic would be rescuer was about to be killed, she felt certain. She was convicted of the importance of saving his life.

The model grabbed the very same rock (which would have killed her, had Thorrg not unwittingly broken his own cardinal rule and altered history on the giant world that day) and brought it down hard on the back of the neck and head of her evil photographer. In this new timeline, and evil man died. A hobo was never framed for murder, not even temporarily, and a beautiful giant model lived.

"Thank you," said Thorrg, "I don't know if I could have kept that up forever, without the risk of him turning back on you."

"Thank YOU!" said the model, "You were so brave to take him on like that. I'm Kristeene."

"It was easier than it looked," said Thorrg, and spent some time explaining the workings of the device, as Kristeene picked him up and carried him to her expensive giant estate.

She was a very successful model, had gained enough wealth to retire as comfortably as Valerie did on earth, and had been reluctant to start a relationship until she met someone caring. In a society ruled by a Supreme Council that was rather tyrannical in 1983, she had not met anyone caring so far, who took her fancy. She wished the little man was her own size, at least on occasions, so that she could hug him, but had not the heart to tell him. She began to date him for a number of months, and in early 1984, they secretly gave each other marriage vows.

To the 1983 Spindrift team, anything could have happened to Thorrg. They had not seen the hobo's arrival this time, having witnessed the giant's first attempt to step on Thorrg and quickly returned to their base camp, lest the same thing happen to them. It had been a hard decision for Steve to have made on the spot, but he knew that they could have been no help at all to Thorrg against a homicidal giant man's stomping feet, and would only have guaranteed themselves a rather flat outcome.

In 2010, Alan Wilson made another visit to Flora's on a weekend, for a date. They spent the morning together at her place, and then her mother Lahtina served them both lunch. In the afternoon, Lahtina insisted that Flora had some school work to catch up on, and offered to take Alan back to the giant park. (Alan had instituted this arrangement; so that Lahtina would not learn of the teleporter, but Mark, Valerie, or anyone else on teleporter monitor duty, would see him reach the park, see the giantess leave, and then teleport Alan back to giant Betty's apartment. It was even possible to do exactly the same procedure using the earth based teleporter).


	15. The Secret Society of Giants

Thorrg became so physically ill in the first year of their marriage (1984), that the giant model Kristeene used her wealth to surreptitiously search for a doctor who was sympathetic to Little People. One of her modelling school friends, a beautiful woman named Jennifer, who had not gone ahead with a modelling career, was married to a giant named Dr Enderle. (For the full story of how Barry and Chipper met Dr Enderle in 1983, read the 1968 Land of the Giants authorized edition novel "Flight of Fear").

Kristeene asked some indirect questions, until she learned that both Jennifer and Dr Enderle were sympathetic to Little People, and arranged to bring Thorrg for a secret appointment at the giant doctor's home. After a lengthy examination and extensive questioning, which had not been made easy by the size of the patient, Dr Enderle gave his diagnosis.

"As near as I can tell, though the physiognomy of your people is slightly different to ours," began the doctor, "Thorrg is suffering from the gradual advancement of serious injuries and infections which were caused by a dog bite that Thorrg mentioned occurred when he first found our planet."

Thorrg had not explained that it had in fact happened in late 1984, before he had travelled back to meet Kristeene.

Sadly there was no way to prevent the imminently approaching day of Thorrg's death, but the doctor could provide (for such a small patient) no end of medication to relieve the pain. Thorrg died, which gave Kristeene only one consolation. She had the first opportunity to examine the tiny device that he always carried with him: his Space Time Manipulator.

Kristeene took it to another scientist she had met at a widows support group, whose husband had died in a laboratory explosion in 1983. Her name was Altha.

"I'm extremely wealthy. Money is no obstacle," said Kristeene, "I'd like you to study this device, work out what it does and how it's built, and then build one that can be used by someone my size, rather than a little person. Then I will also pay you to instruct me in its use."

As 1985 began, Kristeene gained the confidence to use her new giant sized Space Time Manipulator in every possible way. It could even shrink itself and her with it, or shrink another giant, unlike Thorrg's tiny STM. Kristeene could now go to earth instantly with the device, in any time as well, and use it to find another lovely young earth man, one she could make herself small enough to hug, to kiss on the lips, and to remain an undetected infiltrator into his society.

Since she had secretly built a giant prototype STM for herself as well, Altha could also infiltrate earth society in any time period. What remained to be seen was whether or not she would get over the anti-earthling behaviour which had indirectly led to her husband Franzen's death.

Though neither was aware of the other's movements, both giant women used their Space Time Manipulators to reduce themselves (and the STMS) to the relevant proportionate sizes of Little People, otherwise known as earthlings, and travelled to earth, visiting the planet in various time periods. They also, though not at the same time, restored themselves to their regular giant size and explored the various time periods of their own world.

Senator Tim asked Dal to call a special meeting of the members of M.O.L.E. with as many of the Spindrift families' members in attendance as possible. Everyone made it to the meeting, including giant Betty, except for Alan Wilson and his parents.

"Tim has the floor," said Dal.

"In the last few weeks of my time on the Supreme Council, I received several anonymous written threats against my life, warning me to give up my attempts to pass legislation sympathetic to earthlings. Two days ago a fatal shot was fired at one of my supporters on the council, fired from an unseen attacker, when the Council member was leaving the Council building. The S.I.D. have been notified, and are offering their protection. However, I am convinced that there is an inside conspiracy, that there are members of our Supreme Council, who were outvoted in the pro-earthling legislation. They have most likely allied themselves with criminals and are now seeking to eliminate those who supported my bill, and take me down too," said Tim, "I felt you should all know that there are still people who are against the support of earthlings."

"In my early days here, we were involved in three significant underworld movements," said Steve, "We had to help one giant destroy a letter that would have led the former totalitarian government to all his organisation's agents. We were later captured by Kobick and used to track counterfeiters through the sewers. They turned out to be honourable freedom fighters, and we switched sides with them as soon as I overheard Kobick's intent to betray us. Thirdly there was another group led by a Doctor Greer alias North who planned to destroy the city. Kobick and our group had an uneasy but necessary temporary alliance to expose them and prevent the bombs from going off. The first two were in a good cause. The last was downright criminal by any of our standards, I'm sure."

"We have to find out who they are, where they are, and how they plan to strike at the Supreme Council," said Dal, "Our S.I.D. infiltrators no longer need to perform that role, but we need a way to keep an eye on the Supreme Council."

"Could we help?" asked Danielle Ericcson.

"If your parents approve," said Dal.

"I guess they'd be taking the same risks we did when Barry was their age," said Steve, "It's a part of life on this world. If I were still young and fit, I'd be the first to volunteer."

"I agree, though with reservation," said Dan, "I insist that we have a team of us older folks monitoring the kids on the teleporters and using them to pull them out of there at the first sign of danger."

"I'm still able bodied and active enough," said Barry.

"I was hoping you'd all say that," said Dal, "I would like Tim to smuggle them into the Supreme Council building vents, have them explore the building and quite literally spy on every member of the Council who did not vote for my legislation. We need to know who they contact, and what involvement, if any, that they have in the first assassination."

There was one other earthling who was keen to help, but not for entirely the same reasons. When SID Inspector Camilla Evers raised the details with her earthling boyfriend Dolf, he wasted no time in offering to work in an unofficial undercover capacity with her. Even her officers would not be told of his involvement.

The changes in the Supreme Council's legislation had brought about a new era in giants cooperating with earthlings. Dolf would really be assisting Inspector Evers with all his heart. This time there was no coercion of Little People, only team work, making use of the military intelligence of the SID and the ease of concealment of the Little People.

Dolf was walking through a Supreme Council building vent with a torch, when he came upon Barry Lockeridge.

"I remember you, kid," he said.

"Not a kid anymore," said Barry, "Actually I'm a married man."

"Which of those two was the lucky girl?" asked Dolf, "Betty or Valerie?"

"Actually I married a giant, but what are you doing here?"

"If we weren't on a planet of giants, I'd have used the expression 'Small World'," said Dolf, "But actually I'm dating the head of the SID, who was never as devoted to our capture as the giants were in the 1980s. She was glad to change jobs, when assigned to protect and help us instead of hunting us down. I'm helping her to secretly watch for an assassination attempt in this building."

"So are my group," said Barry, "Do you feel like teaming up?"

"Sure," said Dolf, "I think you should check out the room I just passed with me. I was on my way to a safe spot to contact Evers."

What Barry and Dolf went on to overhear was a conversation between two members of the Supreme Council who were anti-little people on principle. As it turned out, and as they soon reported to both Camilla Evers and M.O.L.E. (which gave Dolf a good opportunity to learn of M.O.L.E.), Dr Greer's original group was a long established secret society dedicated to manipulating the government of the giant world. They had amassed a fortune through criminal activity, held back any technological developments that would have made their criminal operations more easily detected and stopped, used their fortune to manipulate the economy and to have legislation passed (in the late 1970s), which moved the society towards a totalitarian police state. Using the Little People (upon their arrival in the 1980s) as a platform to unite people in their cause, they placed or bought key members of the 1980s Supreme Council, as a precursor to setting up a new order under their control. Upon learning of the occasions when Little People had worked with Senator Obek, Inspector Kobick, Tim's father and others (whether in voluntary or forced capacities), the members of the secret society had seen the Little People as an even greater threat to their global criminal empire, and had done all they could to accelerate the community's and the government's hostility and paranoia towards earthlings.


	16. The Supreme Truth

Yet Senator Tim and others in the newer generation had not been so easily manipulated. The members of the secret society had grown older and found little new blood willing to replenish their ranks. Those of Dr Greer's organisation who were never found nor arrested by Kobick in 1984 (which was most of the secret society still at large) had harboured a resentment of the way the Little People had foiled their plans to destroy the city. Their inside agents Zarcon and Chief Bulgar had been defeated by Steve, Mark and Dan after attempting to frame the Little People for an explosion. They had upped the ante a year later by trying to blow up a whole city and let the Little People be assumed the natural fall guys. Once again the Little People had gotten wind of their plans and stopped them.

Yet Greer had contacts inside the SID prison. Their organisation could buy almost anybody to their cause. There had not been one legitimate act of terrorism by any of the Little People. Yet the secret society had used the actions of Chief Bulgar (as well as the actions of those who didn't even know of nor support the secret society's agenda, such as former SID Sergeant Barker) as false flag operations to turn the giant society into a police state. Citizens were subject to warrantless searches on the slightest unsupported suspicion of aiding Little People. Some giants were detained without trial or due process in a detention centre called Giant Enemy Bay, and even tortured under the most appalling living conditions. Under the false threat of alien invasion by Little People, the secret society's corrupt members of the Supreme Council could sway the people to surrender more and more of their civil rights in the supposed name of their own protection. For decades the secret society plotted and schemed behind the scenes, and now it had all come to a head.

Senator Tim's pro-earthling legislation had been the last straw. It had catalysed them into desperate measures, first threats to kill, and then an actual assassination attempt. Steve Burton and his friends were both shocked and relieved to learn how a whole country of giants had been manipulated against them so irrationally and with such prejudice in the face of no hard evidence against any of the earthlings back in the 1980s. Now they knew why.

Steve and the others were not willing to let Dolf and Camilla in on the existence of Mark's new teleporters. However, the teleporters would be used to enable a quick means of escape for all earthlings who went on the secret missions to track down and enable the SID to arrest all of the members of the secret society. Steve had provided Dolf with one of Mark's latest radios, and Dolf and Camilla had tuned their earth sized and giant sized radios to their own secret frequency.

Steve, Dan, earth Betty and giant Betty monitored Barry, Eli and Danielle with the teleporters, and had cause at one point to teleport a suddenly discovered Danielle away from a secret society member. They waited until Danielle ran behind a curtain, and then teleported her, before the giant had a chance to see her. This had the advantage of preventing the giant from learning that a teleportation technology was in use. Such ideas had been forgotten in the SID after Professor Kermus had escaped Dr Marad in 1984, with Steve's help, and gone into hiding until the day he died of old age.

The corruption in the Supreme Council was exposed, along with two SID officers who turned out to be paid agents of the secret society. All of them were given lengthy sentences for attempted murder or conspiracy to assassinate, and forever barred from holding any public office.

There were suspicions and rumours about Bertha Frye's anti Little People campaigns in the 1980s. It was decided to assign SID agents to secretly monitor her network's activity, especially that of its staff members. Either she had had nothing to do with the secret society, not known of its existence, and been swayed by the government's propaganda; or she had been part of the mainstream media that was controlled by the secret society to advance their global criminal agenda, supressing the truth and slanting people's opinion of earthlings. For whatever reason, she had quickly silenced her late 1984 campaign, when a homicidal SID rogue sergeant Barker had claimed to have been inspired by her television message. Lieutenant Grayson (Swan's replacement while Kobick was on special assignment) had indirectly advised Bertha Frye not to mention his release of Steve Burton and friends after Steve's warning had saved him from being killed by Barker's latest use of a curare dart.

Senator Tim, having uncovered the plot, with the aid of the Little People, was elected the new president of the Supreme Council at the next meeting, and all of the Little People were invited to go to the Supreme Council for a special presentation in their honour.

Again, Steve and Dan felt that giant Betty, whose involvement with the Little People was not known, could man the teleporter and pull them out in the event of any trouble. Mark, Valerie and Alan Wilson returned from their activities on earth and Flora's house respectively, so that they could attend the meeting as well.

"Due to my personal involvement in this case, and president Obek's recent retirement, I would like to briefly thank him for all his support in passing my pro-earthling legislation, and then hand over to the deputy president to make this presentation to the earth representatives gathered with us today," said President Timothy.

"Captain and Mrs Burton and other visitors from earth," began the deputy president, "It is with deep regret that I convey an apology on behalf of our people for the injustices done to your passengers and crew and other associates in the past. None of us can give you back the civil liberties you lost, when you were forced to spend decades in hiding, living your lives on the run. I hope it is some consolation that you found the means to raise children on our world, and that they have survived to flourish and be accepted at last into our society. It has been voted on, in the light of your people's recent assistance in ending the secret society's corrupting influence, to invite two members of your party to hold positions of membership on the Supreme Council. No longer will earthlings be considered as mere visitors to our planet, let alone the alien invaders they were once misrepresented to be. From now on, they are to be treated as fellow citizens of our world, and elect their own two members periodically, to serve terms on the Supreme Council, with voting rights, and the freedom of speech to pull us up, the moment the slightest hint of corruption or prejudice (whether size related or of any other nature) should ever rear its evil head in our government again. You have my assurance that every known criminal involved (including those in the very law enforcement and legislator organizations of our society) has been arrested, charged, tried, convicted, imprisoned and permanently disqualified from having any similar position of authority in the future. Let this be a new era of peace on our world. What say you, Captain Burton?"

"I stopped being the leader of our team some time ago," said Steve, "But I think our people could all raise their hands if they agree."

All the hands instantly went up, and Dan whispered to Marna that they should fill in Dolf and Nick (whose situation Dolf had explained to Barry) about the new developments.

That soon proved to be a moot point, as the deputy president announced a series of special television interviews with President Tim concerning the new rights and status of Little People.

"I could also add that we could outlaw that expression 'Little People' should any of you find it the least inflammatory," said President Tim.

"It has a kind of nostalgic sentimental appeal to me," said Barry, "Some of us have been quite romantically attracted to giant women. I think we'd like to keep using the word 'giant', and wouldn't want you to stop calling us 'Little People' either."

There was no dissension from the earthlings, and Barry's recommendation carried the day.

The Spindrift families began to turn their attentions more to setting up the new earthbound aspects of their lives. Only the Wilsons could afford to live on earth. The others would remain residents of giant Betty's spare room village of dolls houses. However, they could teleport to earth and live out pleasant days there whenever they liked. For Steve and Betty, Mark and Valerie, Dan and Marna, the desire to have extensive interaction with giants had passed. They could retire with the luxuries of giant Betty's apartment room and yet enjoy romantic walks, picnics and journeys around all of the best locations on earth. The costs of flights and other travel arrangements were irrelevant, when the teleporters could take them to different locations every day of the week.

Dan was the first to propose that he and Marna go on a second honeymoon, so that Marna could really get to enjoy it on her birth planet, and explore a world she had left behind as a small child. Steve and Betty followed suit. Mark and Valerie did the same. Barry was still glad to be a part of giant Betty's world, and the lady began to at last reveal her secret marriage to her closest girlfriends. They marvelled at the way that an apparently celibate minded lady had secretly been married to a little younger man for decades. Given their knowledge of the legislation against the rights of little people until recent times, giant Betty's friends did not blame her for keeping her marriage to Barry a secret.

In time, Nick and his giant wife Caroline also went public with their marriage. With Mark's permission, and the back-up plan of his teleporters, Alan Wilson and Flora also shared the news of their relationship in a teenage version of show-and-tell at her school. With all legislation now working in favour of their protection, the risks were minimal. No longer could every citizen be mobilized to capture and turn little people in for reward. Nor could they be imprisoned for aiding earthlings.


	17. Size Doesn't Scatter

Any concerns about Bertha Frye's leanings began to fade, as the news mogul took the opportunity to start a television documentary show about romances between giants and earthlings. Giants all over the city, as well as Spindrift families in giant Betty's apartment tuned into the three premier episodes accepted by the network, in which the three earthling + giantess couples were interviewed about their relationships. The first episode of Size Doesn't Scatter went to air, with Bertha's interview of Barry and (giant) Betty Hamilton.

"Welcome to Size Doesn't Scatter. This is Bertha Frye with the first in a three part series of programs about new options for romance between our ladies and those little men from planet earth. We encourage you to write in with your responses to the show, and if any other inter-size couples out there would like to come out of the closed set, we'd love to have you on the program. Our guests on the program tonight are little man Barry Lockeridge and his wife Betty Hamilton. Well you two, I'd say this is a television first."

"It sure is," said giant Betty.

"So how did you two meet?" asked Bertha.

"It was many years ago, in another time, when Little People were fugitives with only a spaceship and surrounding campsite as their home," said Barry, "One day our ship was lifted up and carried to a picnic site by the river beyond the forest, by Betty."

"I thought it was a toy," said giant Betty, "I was going to take it home."

"I thought she was really something," said Barry, "And I had no idea that a giantess (as you are to us Little People) would be interested in me too."

"He was just a baby," said giant Betty, "I was 23 and he was just hitting that age when boys become aware of girls."

"So is it fair to say she was your first crush?" asked Bertha.

"Well there was at least one other giant girl I met before her," said Barry, "But that wasn't nearly as all-consuming a crush as Betty."

"So what made Betty so special?" asked Bertha, who was enjoying her new show already, convinced at last that romance made an even more engaging subject than politics.

"She reminded me strongly of someone I met back home on earth, just before I left earth in fact," said Barry tactfully, without revealing the hitherto unexplained duplication of Bettys that had blessed both Steve and himself.

Steve and earth Betty were watching the program at home. Steve couldn't help noticing earth Betty's blush at the compliment, but he was only pleased at the reaction. Steve, Barry and the Bettys had dealt amicably with the interesting dynamic of their continued friendship and the two romances many years ago. As former leader of the group, he admired the way Barry had made his statement without giving away their private knowledge of the facially identical Bettys.

Earth Betty was still as happy as ever for both of them. In a universe without Steve and giant Betty, she might well have found herself with Barry.

"So Betty," said Bertha, "How does it feel to be going public with a romance, after so many years in hiding?"

"Well in a way, it's a relief. I've been able to introduce Barry to my girl-friends at last, and let everyone know that I'm actually Mrs Lockeridge, not Miss Hamilton. It was very difficult at times, in the old days, never knowing when a government official might come knocking on the door in search of little people. My address has been unlisted for many years."

"Bertha, you remember your own television shows after we'd been on your world for nearly two years," said Barry, "Both the media and the government were pushing anti-Little People views.

"We change with the times, according to what we learn," said Bertha, "That's why I started this program. If it's a success, and if more people come forward to tell us about their inter-size relationships (that's if they're having them), we might make more episodes. Now am I allowed to ask about something I'm sure our viewers want to know: your first kiss?"

Giant Betty laughed.

"There was nothing little about it," she said.

"For me either," said Barry.

"How did the leader of the Little People feel about you dating one of us?" asked Bertha.

"He had to objectively stay out of it," said Barry, "You see, I liked his girlfriend too, and he liked Betty too. We went with the girls who chose us respectively."

"So you settled for the women's choices," said Bertha.

"They were our choices too," said Barry.

"Well that's all we've got time for on this program," said Bertha, "In our next episode, we meet a divorced woman and her Little People husband. Remember our sponsor; and this program was brought to you by the Dal hearing aid, the one more people are willing to SHELL out for. I'm dressed by Femme Fashion. Giant Betty is dressed by her airline company. Barry Lockeridge is dressed by Christian D Awe. This has been a GTS production for the Frye Network. Good night."

There was one viewer of the program whose old memories were brought to the surface as she watched the interview between giant Betty and Barry. Leeda's mother Mrs Farrer did not recognise giant Betty as an identical woman to the young lady who had once sat on a park bench in 1983 and suggested that Steve and Dan rescue her children from the site of a cave-in. With her husband's help, the Little People, after the rescue, had escaped recapture by Inspector Kobick. Yet there was an earlier memory concerning Little People, one that she had never told anyone.

In 1959, an earth scientist named Scott had been experimenting with a wave particle bombardment accelerator, which he had invented, in the hope of giving himself the ability to pass through solid objects. Impatient for results, he had stood in front of the accelerator and let it affect his own body. He had soon after discovered, that he had acquired the ability not to pass through solid objects, but to pass through the 4th dimension, stepping into other regions of time and space merely by thinking about it.

In his early experiments with his newly acquired power, Scott the 4D Man had confined his movements to earth. Later, he had stepped, in an instant, onto another time, and another planet: The Land of the Giants in 1974. He had soon met a beautiful young single giantess named Lee. She had long dark hair and formed an affectionate friendship with him. He enjoyed snuggling against her cheek or her neck, and being taken for long walks in the more scenic and isolated landscapes away from the giant city. After much thought, he stepped back into his own time and place, and constructed a giant engagement ring, and then took it to Lee's world and asked her to marry him.

"Oh, I'm honestly flattered Scott," she said, "But I want to have children and raise them. I've already decided to call my first daughter Leeda, a derivation of my own first name. We both know that you can't give me children, as much as you might or might not want to."

"But I want so much to be part of your life, and there are things that I can do that nobody else on either of our worlds can do," said Scott, "Doesn't that appeal to you too?"

"Walking to other worlds and times is an amazing gift you have given yourself," said Lee, "But it still doesn't make you any larger than my thumb. Even if we could have children, how could you take an active role in raising them. I'll always remember your affection for me, but I suppose we both knew that this day of decision was coming. I think it's time we stopped seeing each other."

"I guess I can get to my own world from here," said Scott.

Scott had stood on the edge of a large grassy hill, and watched the beautiful giantess walk slowly down the hill and along the flat field and into the forest. Her long skirt had swayed hauntingly, as he had begun to imagine a life without her. (Since then there had been a few women among Lee's people, who had found little earth men attractive. Yet the more typical desire of a woman was to raise a family with a man her own size.)


	18. Reality Little People TV

Scott then simply stepped through the fourth dimension and into his own world and time again. For several days, he thought about Lee, and then decided to use his power to visit her one more time, but without her knowledge. The 4D Man stepped into the Land of the Giants in the future again, but into 1983, not 1974. As she had married by this time, it took him a while to locate her, but one day he saw her happily enjoying a school holiday with her two children. He was pleased for her, and carried that image with him in his mind from then on, as well as those of his past memories. He did not know that her married name was Mrs Farrer, nor that the children were called Teddy and Leeda, though he figured that she'd stuck to her plan to call her daughter Leeda.

Mrs Farrer looked contented with her new life, and Scott returned to earth and continued to develop his power. Further exposure to his scientific inventions in the 1960s altered his abilities somewhat, and he eventually took on the name Gary Seven, and shared several adventures with a woman his own size who became his true love after all.

Since the 1980s, Mrs Farrer's children had grown up, and played significant roles in establishing the rights of Little People. Having just watched the television program, she had seen how Barry's relationship with Betty had worked out. It was a sweet homage to her time with Scott, and the way things might have been if she had not sought to have children. Yet she was very happy with her life, and proud that her children had become first secret and then more public advocates of the Little People's rights.

In 2010, the second episode of Size Doesn't Scatter went to air on the Frye Network's Recovery Channel.

"This is Bertha Frye, welcoming you once again to Size Doesn't Scatter. Our guests this evening are a divorced mother of three who went on to marry a leader of an expedition of teenage Little People boys from earth. Meet Nick and Caroline!"

The television audience applauded, and then Bertha continued.

"So Nick, what attracted you to Mrs Caroline Brady as she was known at the time you met her?" asked Bertha, who had done a brief private interview with her guests prior to the show, to gather background information to assist in framing questions for the television interview.

"Well she was a lovely giantess, who was bringing up three very giant girls," said Nick, "They all had lots of height, like their mother. The youngest one wore-"

"Thanks for your candid answer, Nick," said Bertha, "So Caroline, you'd been married before. Your husband had had a run-in with some Little People at his circus. Were you worried about how he'd react to you going on dates with a Little Person?"

"Well Nick was a better leader than my first husband had been," said Caroline, "After all, when I met him, he was busy with four boys of his own age. Quite frankly, Miss Frye, "I don't care what Brady thinks."

"But Caroline, I'm trying as hard as I can to see this from your children's point of view," said Bertha, "Many children of divorcees are known to make trouble for the subsequent romantic partners of their separated parents. It's up to the parents to let the kids know they're still loved, but also to defend their rights to their relationships. How do the children adapt to a new guy in your life, when he's smaller than any of the dolls they grew up with, and younger than their mother too?"

"Nick won them over. He was very patient. It was a learning experience to him too. He'd led his team of boys with male gusto and pugilistic approaches. He couldn't do that with my girls, for obvious reasons. So he learned to soften himself and be patient, while I administered the discipline, if they ever tried to undermine our relationship," said Caroline.

"But how did you go about all that, Nick?" asked Bertha.

"I could tell you a number of stories, Bertha," said Nick, "But I suppose the most successful, was when I read them the biography of earth actress Joan Shelley, titled 'Joan Shelley: Hollywood Home Wrecker' which told of the significant damage that she allowed her three sons to cause to Shirley's relationship with her second husband. Caroline did most of it though. At a time when children of divorcees were known to develop skills in playing their parents off against each other, Caroline stood for no nonsense. She took it upon herself to remain the parent, and not become the child. The girls made the adjustments, and things came good. We all get on well now, and have done so for most of the years we've been a family."

"Well those who saw our first show will remember that last time I asked Barry and Betty Lockeridge this question," said Bertha, "How did it feel to be preparing to come on a show like this, after years of having a secret contraband inter-size marriage?"

"I actually preferred it on the sly," said Nick, "I guess I still retain some of the paranoia that my team had about giants. The paranoia was a two-way street when we arrived here. We didn't trust anyone, not even the other team of earthlings when we first met. I'm waiting to see for sure whether or not your society will embrace President Tim's legislation, that he had passed when he was a senator of the Supreme Council."

"And you, Caroline?"

"Well every girl likes to show off her beau," said Caroline, "And mine's easy to carry. I suppose every LITTLE bit helps."

"But seriously," said Bertha, "You're in a second marriage, this time to a tiny alien from another world. You're raising three daughters, trying to keep the new relationship secret from their father; and Nick's instant parenting scenario has teething problems. How did you cope with the knowledge, on top of all that, that your romance was, at that time, forbidden by the Supreme Council? Would you have had any regrets if you'd found yourself in the SID Prison?"

"I don't think so," said Caroline, "Of course I'd miss Nick and my daughters, but I would not be sorry for the time we had. If such an awful thing had happened, Nick would still have been in that prison, in my heart."

"Well thank you, both of you," said Bertha, "The last show in our original trilogy features a romance between a second generation Little Person born on our world and a school girl who likes to start off small, when falling in love. Tonight's episode was brought to you by Goalby Original Singing Puppet Exhibits Limited. When leaving our city, Nick and Caroline choose to fly on any plane where Betty Hamilton Lockeridge is on duty as stewardess. This has been a GTS production for the Frye Network. Good night."


	19. Another Kind of War

Back in the Land of the Giants in 2010, Bertha Frye's third television program about ladies romancing Little People went to air.

"Good evening once again. I'm Bertha Frye with the third in our trial series of three episodes of Size Doesn't Scatter. We welcome our guests, this time both teenagers, a private school girl called Flora and her little beau named Alan Wilson. So Alan, you've had a different experience to Barry Lockeridge and Nick. Tell us about being raised entirely on a planet of people who are relative giants in comparison to your size."

"Well Bertha, what you grow up with becomes familiar, and usually doesn't shock you. My reactions were a lifelong gradual process, and had no standard of comparison to earth, since I'd never seen my parents' home planet. They are two of the Little People, and having never found a way to return to their home planet, they soon realised that they couldn't put off marriage indefinitely and grow old apart on this world. So they married and eventually had me. I was raised with warmings about the dangers of being in a land of giants, but I didn't have to face the sudden fears and adjustments that my parents and their friends did when they first arrived here," said Alan.

"So how did you two meet up in the first place?" asked Bertha.

Flora knew her mother Lahtina would be watching the show, and didn't want to bring up any of the bad history that the woman had had with Little People as a child. So she didn't want to mention that Alan had been on the run from her own mother at the time he first noticed Flora. Nor did she know how to raise the fact that Alan had been trespassing in her school. After a few seconds of hesitation, she realised that fugitive Little People had the need to hide out in any place that would conceal them.

"Alan felt that the gardens of my school were a place that would keep him safe from apprehension, since our relationship started shortly before the new Little People legislation was passed by the Supreme Council," said Flora, "He introduced himself to me and we wasted no time falling in love."

"In my last episode, I asked a single mother and her Little People husband how her daughters reacted to the marriage. I guess you two are the other side of the coin, as Alan's girlfriend has a single mother. If you're going public on the show, I presume your mother knows about your relationship."

"She does," said Flora.

"So how does she feel about her daughter dating a Little Person?" asked Bertha.

"She had to get used to him, I guess, but she knows how important he is to me. They've become good friends."

"So would you say your mother wasn't a Little People sympathizer in the old days?" asked Bertha.

"No, not at all, but she's content with the new laws," said Flora.

"Well Alan, is this just a teenage dating thing, or can you see it leading on to marriage?" asked Bertha.

"Well I've only recently become a teenager," said Alan, "I won't be ready for marriage for a number of years, but if I was to marry, I could see myself being very happy with Flora. I should add that I am one of three children of earth parents, who were born and raised on this world. The other two are the son of a second earth couple and the daughter of a third. Those other two had begun dating each other, not long before I met Flora. I knew that there simply were no other single girls available among the Little People here. I met Flora because I deliberately went looking for a giant girl."

"So are you saying that you'd prefer to be with a girl your own size if one came along?" asked Bertha.

Mark and Valerie had told their son all about Bertha's initial 1984 crusade against the Little People. Mark had been framed on a curare dart murder charge, and hunted like never before, until SID Sergeant Barker's actions had been exposed. Bertha had resented Lieutenant Grayson's one act of benevolence towards the Little People. Alan had no intention of letting even Bertha, let alone every television viewer in the city know about the teleporters, which would have enabled a willing participant to go to and from earth in search of girls his own size as often as he chose. He would make the point as convincingly as possible, while preserving Flora's honour.

"Well even when the teenage girl my size was available, I still felt that I would prefer to be with a giantess," said Alan.

"But how can you objectively know that for certain?" asked Bertha.

"My family are close friends with the Lockeridges," said Alan, "I'd always wanted a relationship with a giantess like Barry's. I couldn't imagine myself being nearly so happy with a Little People girl."

"I haven't really asked the other couples this," said Bertha, "But won't people from both our worlds find these inter-size relationships a little odd?"

"Well I know how you and Captain Burton met. When you saw him standing on that SID office desk, didn't you feel anything at all?"

"He was kind of cute," said Bertha, "But I don't think a steady diet of Little Person would have been on my top ten list of life preferences."

"I'd consider myself very fortunate to be someone's steady diet," said Alan.

"But think of all the things you can't do together," said Bertha.

"When I was looking for a giant girl, all I could think of was all the things I couldn't do with a girl my own size," said Alan.

"And what might they be?" asked Bertha.

"Well allow us a little privacy, even on television," said Alan, "But being kissed by the giant sized lips of one of your people's ladies really does leave any other romantic physical manifestation cold."

"Is it as enjoyable for you, Flora?" asked Bertha.

"Oh yes. He's so adorable," said Flora.

"Well thank you both for your time, and also a word of thanks for tonight's sponsor Jodar Pharmaceuticals, makers of the only weight loss pills that really last. Flora was dressed by her mother. Alan was dressed at all times during their relationship, and that's all. Good night," said Bertha.

The success of the program inspired many other producers to become far too lazy to film interesting fictional stories. A rival network soon took up the Real Little People TV genre challenge, and hired well known talk show host and highly knowledgeable researcher Cary Wringer to start a similar program to Bertha's but with a fiery new angle: true confessions in front of a television audience with countless home viewers also as witnesses.

The Cary Wringer show premiered with a stirring episode called, "I lost my lover to a Little People man." Nick and Caroline both appeared on the show, but this time Brady was there as well.

"Good afternoon and welcome to our first episode," said Cary, "Today's issue is a sensitive one, as we meet a man whose ex-wife has recently gone public on another program about her lengthy second marriage, this one to a Little Person. Meet Nick and Caroline, and Caroline's ex husband Brady. Do you want to say anything to Nick, Brady?"

"Yeah, you little perve, how many other families have you messed up?" snarled Brady.

"Oh come on, our marriage was already over before I met Nick. You'd left me, and you know it," said Caroline, "Let's face it, Brady. You were the ARCHITECT of our divorce."

"I said 'families', not 'marriages'! How do you think my kids felt being raised to watch their mother getting it on with a downmarket kiddie toy?" asked Brady, "They were forbidden by you from even being able to talk it through with their real father. Now I find out on the Frye show after all these years that my kids have been raised in…"

"Raised in what?" asked Nick.

"… Well I don't know what they were raised in! I hate to think," said Brady.

"Then don't let your unwarranted resentment lead to speculation," said Nick.

"Oh yeah, wise guy!" said Brady, leaping out of his seat, as Caroline protectively placed Nick on her shoulder.

The network's security officers, given special new discretionary powers to handle the specific nature of this television program, quickly stepped in to restrain Brady.

"Cary! Ca-ry! Ca-ry!" the television audience began to chant, and a new phrase was born.

"Caroline! Ca-roline! Ca-roline!" shouted one of the more light hearted members of the audience, until the disparaging moans of the rest silenced his pun.

The show concluded without physical incident, apart from Caroline reaffirming her devotion with a giant kiss for Nick in front of a revolted but restrained Brady.

As a special treat for the program's end credits, Caroline began to sing:

"_I think we'll go for a walk outside now._

_The air in here's getting too foul._

_Brady won't be allowed to go ka-pow,_

'_though he's starting to growl…"_


	20. Attack of the Cookie Punster

The show was an instant solution to Cary's mortgage problems and a second episode went to air the following week:

"Hello and welcome again. I'm Cary Wringer, and today's show is called "True Confessions of the Would-be Brides of Little People. We have ladies on the stage now, who are going to tell us about the Little Men and Little Boys who got away."

"Ca-ry! Ca-ry! Ca-ry!" came the enthusiastic chant of the audience once more.

"Thank you, live viewers, and here's our first guest, Alison Hunter. What brought you on the show today?"

"Well I'm actually a schoolteacher in the school where Alan Wilson's girlfriend Flora attends some of my classes," said Alison, "I knew a little about their relationship already, but their recent television appearance stirred something up within my heart."

"Are you telling us that you also have feelings for Alan?" asked Cary.

"No. I'd be far too old for him, and I don't want to interfere with their joy," said Alison, "But I was thinking of another little boy I knew way back when I was a little girl. I was on a camping trip in the forest with my father, and I saw the cutest little boy imaginable walking nearby. He was very shy and nervous, but I put down a cookie for him."

"Coo-kie! Coo-kie! Coo-kie!" came a chant from one audience member who'd somehow managed to make it back for the second episode to deliver another of his puns.

"Folks, we clearly need new blood in our live audience," said Cary, "So if you'd like to be on the Cary Wringer show, call our doll free number now. Alright, now that the Cookie Punster has settled down, I'd like to be getting back to you, Alison. I know that in modern times, girls have become more adept at initiating courtship, but this story really TAKES THE BISCUIT. How did the little boy respond?"

"Well you have to understand, Cary. This was back in the time when the rangers had posted Little People Wanted posters all through the forest. My father fancied himself as a bounty hunter and the Little People were scared of him. I wouldn't put him through the reminder of it all by appearing on this show, if he were still alive today. The little boy called out a few words of thanks, but he couldn't stay and risk being captured and turned into the authorities. It broke my heart that I never saw him again in person."

"In person?" asked Cary, quick to pick up on the phrase, "Was there another context?"

"Yes," said Alison, "I believe that marriage is a sacred institution, not to be interfered with. I saw last week's show, and it's clear that Nick was in no way responsible for the breakdown of Caroline and Brady's marriage, having met Caroline after the divorce. I have no desire to come between my little boy of all those years ago and the lucky lady who married him. It's only with those stipulations, that I might encourage you to take a guess at the identity of the boy I never forgot."

"Ba-rry! Ba-rry! Ba-rry!" came the Cookie Punster's dull-set tones again, and this time the rest of the live audience laughed genuinely, and joined in with the chant.

"You have guessed correctly," said Alison, "It was indeed Barry Lockeridge."

Barry had told giant Betty about Alison some time ago, and neither of them felt threatened or offended by Alison's confession of a historical crush.

"It must have been difficult for you to watch his appearance on the Frye show," said Cary.

"In a way it was, but it also gave me hope. I'd spent all these years thinking that he'd probably become involved with a girl his own size, and that he might never have liked a girl like me, who to him was a giant. Having watched all the episodes of the Frye show, I have been encouraged to know that there are little men, Barry included, whose hearts lean upwards, rather than sideways."

"That was a very poetic way to have expressed it, Alison. We're almost out of time for your segment of the program, as we have other guests to hear from, but is there anything you'd like to say to any of the Little People who might be watching the show?" asked Cary.

"Two things actually," said Alison, "Firstly, to Barry and Betty Lockeridge, I wish you all the best. Secondly, if there are any available Little People men out there watching the show, I'd love to hear from you and we'll go from there."

"A very heart felt appeal from Alison," said Cary, "And now on the Cary Wringer show, I'd like to introduce Mrs Gault. Tell us how you came to care for a Little man."

"I was working on a cloning experiment with a man who eventually became my late husband," said Mrs Gault, "By the way, he would have given his blessing for me to be on this program and say the things I'm about to tell you. Dr Gault and I had captured Little People specimens to use in experiments to perfect our cloning process, which we never did, as it turned out. One of the subjects was a charming little black man called Dan. We made at least one clone of him, but the clones were unstable, and 100 per cent prone to disintegration after only a few hours of life. When the rest of the Little People came to free Dan, there was a lot of confusion in the laboratory, and Dr Gault never found out that I had secretly cloned Dan one more time without Dr Gault's authorization. I had sedated my extra Dan clone and hidden him in my lab coat pocket. All of the original little people got away, and the other clones disintegrated. So when I got home, I expected to find my pocket empty, but it wasn't. Dan had woken from his sedation sleep and I found that the sedation had had a side effect of stabilizing his condition … but only for three weeks. Yet every night of those three weeks, I had the little love of my life in my clutches. He knew his time was probably still short, and made the most of the brief relationship, before he too disintegrated."

"And you still miss him?" asked Cary.

"I guess I was different from Alison. I soon got over my Little People fixation and fell far more deeply in love with Dr Gault. He was an older man, and sadly isn't with us anymore, but familiarity of working together led to love, and when he took the chance on proposing, I instantly accepted. I'm seeing someone else now, and we think that will lead to marriage, but if you're watching this Dan, I thank you for three wonderful weeks of romancing the clone."

"Well how about that!" said Dan Ericcson, as he and Marna watched the show in their lounge, "I really never knew she cared, but I'm one Little Person who likes to be with a woman his own size. Besides that, you're prettier."

"So you didn't have any regrets, while watching that," said Marna.

"No. I've occasionally wondered if YOU had any regrets about Mark and Valerie," said Dan.

"Remain mine in peace, my love," said Marna, "It's only you I loved. When I met Mark, I wasn't the person I was born to be. He did ignite the flame of transformation from brainwashed pet of giant scientists to being my own woman and then yours, but Mark and I were not for each other. I wouldn't trade a week of my life with you for all the time in the world with him."

The Cary Wringer show moved into its last segment, featuring a giantess named Lisa.

"Now there's another connection between you and a previous guest on the show, isn't there?" said Cary, "Would you like to tell the viewers about that first?"

"Yes," said Lisa, "I met the Little People when I was part of a knife throwing act in a circus run by a man named Brady, who at the time had been going through a divorce with Caroline. They were on the show last week, as you know. Two of the Little People helped my friend the late puppeteer Goalby by posing as marionettes. Brady found out, and again it was back in a time when Little People were wanted by the government through the SID. At one point I found myself looking right at the little Captain on the neck high stage of the puppet theatre. He was quite a sight, but I had no time to explore the matter, because we all had to work fast to free his friends from Brady's clutches. Later the Little People set up some tape recorders inside Goalby's own marionettes, which could then simulate singing puppets. I think that the little Captain might have liked me, but he never came back to see me. It was a nice thought, but not meant to be, I guess. I've been happily married for over twenty years now, but I thought your audience might like to know the story of our brief meeting."

"She is pretty, Steve," said earth Betty, "I'm glad you chose me instead."

"I'm glad you chose me instead," said Steve.

"Instead of who? …. Oh, yes. I've always understood what giant Betty sees in Barry, but I'd only ever have married him in a timeline where I couldn't have married Steve Burton. Giant Betty felt the other way around about you two. We have had some girl talks about you boys over the years."

"I just wonder if these public confessions are really doing us or the giants any good," said Steve, "The last thing we want is anyone else finding a new reason to enflame the Supreme Council against us again."

"I don't think it will ever come to that," said earth Betty.


	21. The Giant's Share of the Ratings

Steve and earth Betty might have spent more time pondering those concerns, if they knew what Cary Wringer had planned for episode four. Alan Wilson had agreed to appear on the program with Flora, on the condition that the program would not be aired until Alan could guarantee that all of the Spindrift families would be away from their television sets and unable to watch the program. He did not tell Cary that he would achieve this by choosing a time when all of the other earthlings had teleported to earth, but he did stipulate the condition.

The only outstanding problem was giant Betty, who was a devoted follower of the show. Alan talked to her in private about his plans and the reasons, and learned more from her about her early history with Barry. Giant Betty gave him her word to watch the program but never to repeat what she saw to any of the others. As a result, one day in 2010, the fourth episode of the Cary Wringer show became the highest rating single episode of any television series in the history of television in the Land of the Giants:

"Welcome once again to the Cary Springer show," said Cary, "This afternoon, we're going to hear from a couple who have already gone public on another network. Please welcome Alan Wilson and Flora."

The audience applauded, and then settled down to allow the show to proceed.

"So you two have been dating for a few months now," said Cary.

"That's right," said Alan.

"And you no longer have any concerns about your mother's approval, Flora?"

"None at all," said Flora.

"Well we also invited your mother onto the show today, and she's coming out to join us now," said Cary, as Lahtina walked onto the stage and sat down.

"Hi Mom. What a surprise!" said Flora.

"Well Lahtina, I understand that you have something you'd like to tell your daughter," said Cary.

"That's right," said Lahtina, "Flora, there's no easy way to tell you this, but I'd like to eat your boyfriend."

"What?" said Flora, "Do you know what you're saying?"

"Of course I do," said Lahtina, "And so does he!"

"What does that mean?" asked Flora.

"I really like you, Flora, but I've always wanted her to eat me too. I gave her the chance when you were at school that day we made peace. That's how we did it. She almost swallowed me… and I liked it."

"Ca-ry! Ca-ry! Ca-ry!" came the audience, chanting louder than ever before.

"No … no … This is warped," said Flora.

"I can't be the first Little Person to have a giantess vore crush," said Alan, "And Lahtina can't be the first one to reciprocate."

"Well you heard that viewers," said Cary, "If there are any others out there, ladies or little males, we'd like to have you on the program."

"You're sick, Mom!" yelled Flora, getting out of her seat, "This is a depraved perversion that nobody with any mainstream common sense could understand, and you've entertained it under my nose."

"Actually it was under my nose," said Lahtina, "He slid into my mouth with room to spare."

Flora flew at her mother and slapped her on the cheek. The security officers were not worried about the dangers of an all-female slap-up at this point, and allowed the fight to progress.

Lahtina hit back with both open hands, shoving Flora off balance.

"What's sick is that my own daughter, though her jealousy might be excused, sides with the worst bigots in our society, who wouldn't have allowed us to have unique but still heterosize-ual feelings for each other. I want your little boyfriend in my stomach, and he's on the show because he's become increasingly keen on the idea," said Lahtina.

"Is that true? Would you really prefer that to being with me?" asked Flora, turning away from her mother to face Alan.

"I went on this show, because I didn't know any other way to tell you," said Alan.

"Well she's welcome to you, and I hope you stick in her throat!" said Flora, "But you two haven't thought this through. The Supreme Council's latest legislation protects Little People more than ever before, even from their own insanely self destructive desires. You two have just announced your disturbed urges to the television viewers at large, and the SID will never go for you changing your diet the way you planned. Think about that while you can, but you and me are done! I'm going to live with Dad, which shouldn't be any problem after he's seen this show!"

"Well we feel the way we do, and it's not depraved to us. We're two people of the opposite sexes and different sizes who've had to hide our secret longings for too long. No longer will we give in to fear of embarrassment or ridicule. Other people can enjoy making love, and we'll enjoy making lunch," said Alan.

Flora stormed out of the studio in tears.

"So what do you think about your daughter's feelings now?" asked Cary.

"I think, if anything, we've probably cured her of her interest in Little People romances," said Lahtina, "She'll get over it, move on, and find a nice boy her own size."

"But she did leave you with an ominous warning," said Cary, "Do you still intend to go ahead and eat Alan?"

"We've talked about it, and we'd both like that very much, but we won't break the law. We can still act out the motions of a good meal with Alan's special participation though. I'll leave your viewers to imagine what that would be like."

"Well Alan, do you have anything to say to the viewers?" asked Cary.

"I do. If any members of the Supreme Council are watching, this is my appeal to them to consider amending the new laws to (pardon the pun) cater for giantess vore, only so far as to permit it between two willing participants of course."

"Vore-boy! Vore-boy! Vore-boy!" came the voice of Cookie Punster.

"Is he here again?" asked Cary Wringer, "Hopefully this episode will make us enough extra capital to hire a whole new set of viewers.

(In the Land of the Giants, television's live audience members were paid a small fee for their appearances. Alan had no idea whether a similar practice had existed or would ever exist on his parents' birth planet earth.)

The Cary Wringer show episode "My Mom is eating my Little People boyfriend" sparked so much contentious debate in the community, that Bertha Frye's old instincts came in, and she decided that it was time to interview the head of the SID on the subject, having noticed the reference made to the SID on the Cary Wringer show. She contacted Inspector Camilla Evers and outlined her ideas.

"I might be able to do a better interview on your other show," said Camilla, "Having seen "My Mom is eating my Little People boyfriend," my own Little People partner and I have finally made up our minds to offer you an appearance on Size Doesn't Scatter, if you'd like to have us."

"Are you kidding?" asked Bertha, "The head of the SID has been seeing a Little People man! If anything can beat the ratings of Cary Wringer's last episode, this would be it."

Soon Bertha's fourth episode of Size Doesn't Scatter went to air.

"Welcome to the return of Size Doesn't Scatter. I'm Bertha Frye, and here with me tonight are a couple who may well become the most controversial inter-size relationship of these modern times. I'm talking to a Little People man named Dolf and the head of the SID herself, Inspector Camilla Evers. My first question, Camilla, is how you could reconcile your duty as a loyal government employee and your secret relationship with one of the very beings you were assigned to apprehend and interrogate?"


	22. Requiem for a 4D Romance

"Before she answers, can I say this?" said Dolf, "I was more willing to cooperate with her professional questioning about Little People after she agreed to give me my first giant kiss. I was caged to prevent my escape, and at no time was she ever laissez faire in her duty as my captor. Even the previous members of the Supreme Council, with all their antipathy towards earthlings, would have been proud of the way Camilla performed her duties."

"Did she disclose this relationship to the officers under her authority?" asked Bertha.

"Back then, I didn't," said Camilla, "But even now, I only tell close friends. Regardless of the size or political status of one's partner, most people wouldn't discuss their relationships while on the job at work, in any career. I'm not required to disclose my personal life to my underlings."

"But this aspect of your personal life was interlocked with one of the primary mandates of your job," said Bertha.

"I saw the previous episodes of this show," said Dolf, "Did you tell all your 1984 camera crew and production team that you thought Steve Burton was cute?"

"No, but I didn't take him home and start necking with him either," said Bertha, "When you two started up, you were considered an enemy alien invader. How do you think the public would have felt, let alone the Supreme Council, to know that you were dating the most senior operative of the organisation charged with your capture and interrogation?"

"She caught me and interrogated me. What's the problem?" asked Dolf.

"I can imagine the questions," said Bertha, and then, imitating Camilla's voice: "Oh Dolf, your place or mine?"

"Are you just jealous, because your only meeting with Captain Burton was nothing more than a Frye-by-night encounter?" taunted Dolf.

The show went to a commercial break, which allowed two particular viewers, Lahtina and Alan Wilson, to talk.

"Thank you for your on air petition to the Supreme Council to legalise giantess vore," she said, and kissed his whole face at once, "I can't believe I ever resented my grandfather's Little People."

"I just hope that nobody on the Council mentions our episode to the other Little People," said Alan, "I guess they can just consider my request without naming me."

Since their appearance together on television, Alan and Lahtina had begun to fall into an inter-size love affair of their own, as well.

"The commercials just finished," said Lahtina.

"So in conclusion, Camilla, you honestly don't believe that your romance with Dolf created any conflict of interest?" asked Bertha.

"If it did, I never let my romantic side win the conflict," said Camilla, "Dolf was SID property from the moment I caught him until the day that the Supreme Council passed the new legislation."

"And how did that feel?" asked Bertha.

"Not that different for me," said Alan, "She offered to set me free, now that her SID obligations had changed, but I never wanted to leave her in the first place. It just meant that I've had more practical freedom in her company now. She knows I'll always come home to her, even if I venture on any outings in the Land of the Giants."

"For me it's been nicer to think of him purely as my partner and concentrate my work efforts on other tasks. For a while, he even became my partner at work too, in a voluntary capacity. Little People can be very useful in stake outs and so on. I worked closely with Dolf, and he found himself working closely with other Little People, to expose and arrange the arrests and convictions of the members of the secret society who had corrupted our government for so long," said Camilla.

"Yes, I remember interviewing Senator Tim about his legislation," said Bertha, "Things have certainly changed. Well it's been a pleasure to have you both on the show. When in our city, Little People choose to stay at places unknown to us. Tonight's sponsor was Zoral Industries, inventor of the hydraulic puppy dog. It never grows up, never stops being cute, and doesn't need to be fed. This has been a GTS production for the Frye Network. Good night."

Since constructing her giant sized Space Time Manipulator, Altha had left 1985 to tour time and space, and eventually used her advanced scientific knowledge to pass herself off as an elementary school science teacher on earth from late 1977 to early 1980. It paid the rent on a pleasant American home, and kept her mind off her late husband Franzen.

In late February 1980, one of Altha Franzen's 1979 sixth class students had moved on to high school. He went for a walk in the forest behind his school after classes had finished one day, and saw a glowing green circle of light standing in the forest. He found that he could step through it, and that the flowers on the other side were somewhat larger than the ones he was used to. This boy's name was Pete Thorne, and he had just found a space warp which was known to nobody else on earth or in the Land of the Giants.

He walked for a while through what seemed to be another forest on the other side of the warp, and then saw a gigantic female hand come down and snatch him up from what turned out to be the giant woman's garden. To his further surprise, when he looked up at her face, he saw that she was his teacher Mrs Franzen, now giant sized.

"I've never seen a trespasser your size before," she said coldly, "But I'll soon put you where you won't cause me any trouble, until I'm ready to study you for scientific purposes."

Mrs Franzen took him into her house, fetched a small cage, and placed him inside it. She took him out to the garden again, and lowered the cage into a place with plenty of surrounding plants to conceal it. She slipped some food into the cage and locked it tight.

"But Mrs Franzen, I'm Pete, one of your students," he said, "How did you become a giant?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," said the giantess, "I've neither seen nor heard of you before. I've caught you now, and I won't let you go. I'm due at my husband's laboratory soon, so I'll be back to deal with you later."

He watched her step away, and was left with no explanation of her giant size, and completely confused about the fact that she didn't seem to remember him.

After a few moments, he was surprised again, as Mrs Franzen, now normal sized once more, suddenly appeared in his cage, holding a small device which looked like a walkie talkie in her hands.

"Hello, Pete," she said.

"You remember me now!" he said.

"Yes, but the Mrs Franzen who put you in here still doesn't remember you," said Mrs Franzen, "She was me a few years ago. I'm her from a number of years into your future (and hers). I was born a giantess on this world. After my husband died in 1983, I eventually built this device, which can help me to travel to other times and places. I shrank myself and the device, which is another of its capabilities, then went to earth in 1977 and joined the staff of your previous school as a teacher at the beginning of third term. I knew that she had you trapped here, because I have her memory of doing it. She doesn't know you like I do. She thinks you're an alien invader on her giant world."

"Can you use that thing to get us out of here?" asked Pete.

"Watch and see," said Altha Franzen, and activated the Space Time Manipulator.

Pete and the older Mrs Franzen suddenly appeared on the earth side of the secret space warp.

"Thank you so much," said Pete, "I'm safe again now."

"You won't tell anyone else about this warp or my giant background, will you?" asked Mrs Franzen.

"Oh no. Your secrets are safe with me," said Pete.

"You're a good boy," said Mrs Franzen, "You should be able to walk home without further incident."

On the next episode of the Cary Wringer show, Mrs Lee Farrer and her husband were the guests. Cary advised them not to make any pretextual references to the Alan Wilson and Lahtina episode (for the sake of Alan's privacy, even though Alan's episode had inspired Mrs Farrer to make a nostalgic confession of her own).

"Welcome again to the Cary Wringer show. I'm Cary, and with us this afternoon are Mr and Mrs Farrer, a couple whose children were rescued from a cave in men years ago with the aid of the Little People. Now Mrs Farrer, I understand there's something you'd like to tell your husband."

"Yes there is," said Mrs Farrer, "I don't know how many Little People are watching, and I'm not sure how our grown up children will take this news, but I once had an interesting encounter with a Little People man, years before I met my husband. I thought it would make an interesting story for your program."

"I'm sure it will," said Cary.

"Farrer! Far-rer! Far-rer!" came the Cookie Punster's voice from the studio audience.

"How does that guy keep getting in?" asked Cary, "Go on, Mrs Farrer."

"Well I met an earth man named Scott, who had acquired the fourth dimensional power to step into his own future and onto our world. We became very affectionate towards each other and he eventually proposed to me. I had to turn him down, because, unlike your previous guests, I wanted a man my own size whom I could love in the traditional way, and who could give me children. In short, I wanted Mr Farrer, whom I met a little later."

"How did Scott take the news?" asked Cary.

"He was hurt, but he understood," said Mrs Farrer.

"I suppose he had to," said Cary.

"So I thought that my youthful romance with Scott might be an interesting story on your show."

"Well it is at that," said Cary, "But what's even more interesting, not just from a romantic perspective, is that the first Little Person to reach our planet did it several years earlier than we thought. I'm sure that any viewers in the SID will be very interested."

"They would," said Mrs Farrer, "But I am glad that the new legislation has created a general amnesty between us and the Little People, so that nobody can be retroactively punished for things that happened between us and the Little People in the days of the secret society."

"Well you've lived a very successful life. You're still married. You've raised two children and even had them rescued by the Little People. Do you ever have any regrets about how things turned out for Scott?"

Mrs Farrer smiled.

"Some things are better left unsaid," she said, "Both of our adult children have been very active in securing the civil liberties of the Little People in recent years, "I know it doesn't really answer your question, but suffice it to say, that if I had stayed with Scott, then I would never have had those children. What's done is done."

Another episode of the Cary Wringer show had been viewed by the masses, and Cary wondered what Bertha Frye would do next in the great ratings war that he'd started.


	23. The Warpsqueeze Chronicles

On earth in 2010, Louisa Pearson's Spindrift website had gained a reasonable following from two groups: fiction writers who enjoyed speculating on the possible outcomes of the missing Flight 612 (as many people had done in the past with the Bermuda Triangle); and university students (most of them science undergraduates) with a keen interest in space travel.

By 2010, Louisa had both the funds and the support to make a 27 year old dream possible. She had purchased a disused sub-orbital aircraft from the airline that had produced the Spindrift in 1983. There had been no further sub-orbital commercial flights after the tragic disappearance of Spindrift. It had been declared unsafe, until the mysterious disappearance had been solved. This had caused one of the pilots, who disagreed with the decision, to leave the airline altogether. Louisa now recruited him to her latest and boldest undertaking: to take a team of her web site's followers on a sub-orbital flight which would retrace the exact flight path of the lost Spindrift. Louisa named her ship the Warpsqueeze, and took great delight in the fact that, though not as fast as Spindrift, it could carry far more passengers.

Louisa would be taking her computer with her, as the ship had a number of AC power outlets, all connected to Warpsqueeze's power source. She would be documenting whatever happened on the journey, as she went, under the title 'Warpsqueeze Chronicles.' To preserve a certain amount of anonymity of her crew and passengers, she would only be using their first names. In the case of the resigning pilot concerned, whom she had hired, Louisa used her first name of Kontakte. The pilot was from Germany and had been 22 in 1983. She had left school as early as possible, in order to gain the training in the hopes of flying sub-orbital airliners for many years.

Louisa's other writers included English speaking French information technology specialist Pierre (who had penned some of the more bizarre and satirical romantic stories on her site), psychologist Cindy (who had hypothesized a personal involvement between the Spindrift's Captain and stewardess), Thomas (whose stories placed the Spindrift captain on a sure footing, whatever the outcome of Flight 612), and a few others named Charles, Keenan and Melody. The rest of the passengers were from universities all over the English speaking countries of the world, who had discovered Ms Pearson's web site and followed it with keen interest.

Thomas had been so interested in the web site for a number of years, that he had spent his own money on obtaining specialist flight training in the now obsolete sub-orbital aircraft. He would act as co-pilot to Kontakte, and the Pearson Warpsqueeze flight was under way. Louisa had purchased the charts of the original 1983 flight path, and their course had been plotted by Kontakte and Thomas.

Their initial gaining of height was uneventful, as they sped away from Los Angeles airport. After they'd been flying for some time, Kontakte and Thomas both noticed a green dot of light in the distance. It must have been miles and miles away, which meant that it could be a lot larger when they reached it.

"I wonder what it could be," said Thomas.

"Most likely our answer," said Kontakte, who like Pierre had long ago made English her second language.

"We can't just fly towards that," said Thomas.

"It's right on the course we've charted," said Kontakte, "I'll hold the ship on course. You go and get Louisa in here. It's time for some serious decision making."

Back in Louisa's cabin, Pierre was showing Louisa what he had detected with a unique piece of information technology. He had been scanning the skies beyond the ship for any sort of anomaly and had detected what his instruments indicated to be a warp of tremendous drawing power.

"How close could we get before it drew us in?" asked Louisa.

"It's hard to say, but it certainly will when we make clear visual contact," said Pierre.

There was a knock on the door, and Louisa let Thomas into the room.

"We've sighted a green light in the distance," said Thomas, "There's no way it could be a star."

"It's showing up on Pierre's prototype scanner monitor too," said Louisa, "Let's all take that device up to the cockpit."

Once in the cockpit, Thomas voiced another concern about the risk.

"I've no objections to going ahead, even if it is definitely a warp, but do we have the right to lead the passengers through?"

"They all knew that a Spindriftesque disappearance was almost certain," said Louisa, "Everyone who registered for this flight signed waivers of liability and actively sought to have the same thing happen to them as happened to the Spindrift crew. I'll go back and announce that it is happening. If anyone doesn't want to proceed, they can use the safety ejection pod. Spindrift was too small to carry one, but we've got it ready to go if need be. Kontakte, keep us on course. Thomas, prepare the pod for ejection in five minutes in case the demand for its use arises. Pierre, you speak first back there. Get their attention and explain the scientific aspect of what we're headed into."

Pierre did his best with what limited knowledge they had, and then Louisa asked for a show of hands for anyone who wanted to opt out and use the pod. Nobody was interested. They were all devoted geeks of the highest order, as surely as Pierre, Louisa and the pilots were… and they were no longer producing hypothetical fiction.

Soon the warp came into view. Kontakte made use of another of Warpsqueeze's special features not included in Spindrift's design. She piped the view from the cockpit's nose camera to the video screen in the passenger section, so that all of them could witness their approach towards the warp. The huge circle of pale green light seemed to be constantly processing white sparks, as far as their naked eyes could tell.

When Steve and Dan had been piloting Spindrift through the warp in 1983, they had drained a lot of the ship's power by trying to veer away from the incredible sucking force of the warp. Since Louisa's team had every intention of going through, they actually saved a lot of power by turning off the engines as soon as they felt the draw of the warp. The warp's own energy carried them through it, and they fell downwards a little on the other side, but still with plenty of time to restart the Warpsqueeze's engines.

In the Land of the Giants, Eli Burton and Danielle Ericcson were enjoying a date alone on the carpet outside their house in the dolls house village of giant Betty's apartment's spare room. Giant Betty had put on a one piece bathing suit and gone out with Barry to sunbake on the balcony of the high rise apartment. Barry, as he had been known to do over the years, climbed down inside the front of giant Betty's costume and snuggled between her prominent extensions, peeking through the fibres of the material in her clothing to enjoy the same view of the city that was available to her giant eyes.

After a while, they were extremely surprised to see what appeared to be an earth space craft heading towards them. It seemed to be specifically destined for the balcony.

"Can you see that, Barry?" asked giant Betty.

"It sure looks like a space ship from my home planet," said Barry.

"I thought your ship was a toy, when I first found it that day in the forest," said giant Betty, "But a toy could not be flying around up here by itself."

"I guess they've chosen to be greeted by the most beautiful giantess on their way down," said Barry, "I can't really climb out of here now. It would be a little embarrassing for strangers to see me doing so and realise where I'd been."

"You just say nothing and I'll make them welcome," said giant Betty, "Maybe they'd like me to buy some more dolls houses and tiny TV sets, so that they could add to the dolls house village."

The ship drew closer and closer, and giant Betty stood up and held out her palms, inviting them to make a landing in her hands.

Suddenly a giant sized dart was fired from the ship, proportioned to giant Betty's body, not to Barry's. It struck giant Betty in her bare shoulder, and she felt dizzy. She staggered backwards and hunched over and began to collapse on the carpet. She had to make sure that she landed on her back, so that Barry would not be injured by her fall. She made it successfully and passed out.

As Barry watched in surprise, the ship flew on into the apartment, over giant Betty's fallen body, and into the spare room. Barry waited to see what would happen, and hoped that Eli Burton and Danielle Ericcson had not been seen by the ship's occupants.

In a few minutes, the ship came flying out again, with two mechanical arms and hands now extending from its hull. In the ship's hands were Eli and Danielle. The ship flew out of the apartment and out of sight.

There was nobody that Barry could turn to for help. All of the other earthlings and their giant friends were away in various locations, some on earth.


	24. One Flute over the Cookie's Guest

"I always did want to take you flying," called Eli, as the unknown craft flew them over the city.

"Your father's blood at work in you?" asked Danielle.

Eventually the ship came towards the roof of a skyscraper building, where Bertha Frye herself was holding a remote control device.

"It wasn't an earth ship at all, but some remote controlled giant machine," said Eli.

At Bertha's manipulation, the ship released them, and she carried them down to her apartment, along with the ship.

"You've just been captured by the Flying Frye Eye, a unique invention which was made possible by the best experts on my network," said Bertha.

"So all that show of taking an interest in publicizing our people's inter-size romances was just a front," said Danielle.

"A worthwhile front," said Bertha, "When the secret society went down, I couldn't have my involvement known, and nor could the others. I've been their media agent for decades. Hence my original 1984 crusade against Little People. Sergeant Barker's homicides turned out to be very helpful until he was caught. The imprisoned members of the secret society are counting on me to free them, and that's where you two come in. I gathered as much information on all of the current Little People on our world, using my show as a means to ask the questions as apparently innocent Size Doesn't Scatter romantic queries."

"With as many digs at Inspector Evers and others thrown in as you could manage," said Danielle.

"It would have looked too staged if I hadn't acted like a probing interviewer," said Bertha, "But there was a secondary purpose to the television interviews. Not only did Alan Wilson's information about you two on his episode prepare me for today's raid on your apartment, but I had the Frye Eye follow everyone who left my studios, and learned the location of your giant friend's apartment. The long range zoom lens on the Frye Eye let me choose my moment from a safe distance, and then strike."

"So what do you want with us?" asked Eli.

"Danielle will remain here as my hostage. You, Eli, will enter the locks of the doors of the SID Prison and free the most experienced and technically gifted member of the secret society, Dr Marad's surviving daughter Tamlyna. Then, with a secret ally who has recently entered my employ, we will launch an attack on President Tim's own undercover organization of Little People activists and rebuild the secret society."

The Frye Eye had left too quickly for Barry to be able to follow its progress on the teleporter monitors. He could only contact Minders Of Little Earthlings and ask for their help.

Alan's comments on 'Size Doesn't Scatter' about the son and daughter of the Burtons and Ericcsons had well equipped Bertha Frye with the leverage she needed. Eli Burton would do whatever he was told, in order to guarantee Danielle's safety. Bertha locked Danielle in a cage with food provisions and a make-shift mattress, and concealed Eli Burton in her pocket.

She then gained permission to interview Tamlyna Marad inside her prison cell, in order to do a new documentary program about the secret society. With the guard in full view, she played the role of mainstream society's advocate to perfection, asking probing questions and making derogatory responses to Tamlyna's comments. To the guard, and the subsequent television viewers when the program would air, what was recorded looked very much like a professional cat fight. Nobody noticed that, when she left, Tamlyna had acquired the smuggled Eli Burton, whom Bertha Frye had left behind.

The guard escorted Bertha out of the SID Prison, leaving Tamlyna and Eli alone.

"You know what you have to do," said Tamlyna.

"I won't give you any trouble," said Eli.

She kept him concealed until after lights out, and then lifted him towards the lock. He turned it from the inside, and was then carried to every door that needed his assistance, until Tamlyna was out of the prison.

Tamlyna took Eli to meet Bertha and Danielle in the new secret meeting place that Bertha had acquired in order to reactivate the secret society. With them was Bertha's latest ally, the Pied Piper, whom she had just employed. He had an advanced scientific device of his own design in the form of a flute which enabled him to change his size and appearance to suit the occupants of the various planets where he plied his trade. The 'trade' was to use the flute's other ability, namely hypnotic music, to guide rats, other animals, or even people on involuntary journeys to wherever his employers wished them to go. He had been occasionally cheated of his fees, first by the people of Hamelyn on earth, and later by Senator Tim's own father, when Timmy had been a young boy. The Piper had aged much slower than humans, living for centuries in fact, and looked not that much older than he had looked to Steve's group in 1984.

"This is an assignment which I will do not only for the fee which you have guaranteed me, Miss Frye, but also for the exquisite pleasure of gaining my revenge on the Captain of the Little People for his red pepper attack on my flute; and also on President Tim, who would have been on another planet all these years and giving your society no trouble, had I not been conned by that little man Fitzhugh."

"Well you know that as head of one of the two largest TV networks in the city, I can easily meet your fees, Mr Piper. Your assignment is twofold. Firstly, I need you to use your hypnotic music to command these two second generation little people (one of whom is the son of your red pepper fiend) to lead us to the secret meeting place of President Tim's organisation of Little People activists. Once they've led us there, I'll keep these two little teenagers in order with my size advantage. Your job will then be to hypnotize the members of that group into committing suicide."

"How do you know they'll be there?" asked the Piper, "I cannot be denied a fee because the circumstances beyond my control have denied me the opportunity to complete my part of the contract."

"That is the secondary reason for my having abducted these little children," said Bertha, "I'm sure that their absence will galvanise an immediate meeting of the activists to help locate them. Most likely you will find most or all of the remaining Little People in attendance there too, consorting with those activists."

"Then we must commence at once," said Tamlyna.

"Very well then," said the Piper, "Miss Frye, take the little teenagers in your hands, leaving their hands free to move. I will play my flute, and command them to point you in the directions of the secret meeting place. You will do the walking, or this would take a long time, and we will take those activists by surprise."

The Piper began to play his flute, as Bertha clutched Eli and Danielle mercilessly. The music was so compelling that it robbed the two teenagers of all freewill. The flute enabled its user to direct its hypnotic effect at the victims of his choice. Tamlyna and Bertha remained unaffected, but Eli and Danielle could do nothing but guide the trio of evil giants to the secret headquarters of Minders Of Little Earthlings.

In the meantime, Barry had revived giant Betty and used the teleporters to bring in all of his earth friends who then contacted Dal and arranged to convene a meeting of M.O.L.E. and the Spindrift families at their headquarters. They were all gathered together, when the trio burst into the meeting.

Tamlyna began to gather up the other Little People, while the members of M.O.L.E. were powerless to resist the Piper's music and gave Tamlyna no trouble. All of them prepared to head to the top of the building and jump off. Dal walked, with the appearance of a zombie, as he approached the doorway, beside which stood the Piper.

Suddenly, Dal swung at the Piper, grabbing his flute, and then kicked the Piper aside. With the cessation of the music, the M.O.L.E. team came to their senses and asked what had happened.

"As soon as that music started, I did the one thing that the Piper hadn't counted on," said Dal, "While the rest of you were fighting to keep from coming under the music's influence, I turned off my hearing aid. I only just turned it back on after the Piper fell over from my kick. Now are there any musicians among us, who can replicate the mesmerizing tune he used on us, and command these three criminals to go to SID headquarters with us on their tail and confess all their crimes?"

"I teach music as one of the subjects at my school," said Alison Hunter, "I think I can play that tune."

"Then you should keep the flute, since we have confiscated it in the name of freedom of both earthlings and our local born people," said Dal, "I know for sure that you will only put it to good use."

"I can offer you something else," said Barry, after the Piper, Bertha Frye and Tamlyna had all been arrested, tried and sent to the SID Prison, "I'm sorry about the heartbreak I unintentionally caused you. I was touched by what you said about me on the Cary Wringer show. If I hadn't fallen for the great giant love of my life Betty Hamilton, who knows what might have happened. Where Betty and I live, we keep teleporters to our own planet, "I have talked it over with their engineer Mark Wilson and the rest of our group, and they have agreed to let you know of their existence and use them to get to earth. With the Piper's flute, you can reduce yourself to earthling size first and move among our people unseen to search for someone willing to come back here with you and adore you as the wonderful giantess you are. Giant Betty will give you a dolls house to invite your future beau to visit, and we'll fill you in on all the teleporter systems and departure arrangements."

"Thank you, Barry," said Alison, "I guess our meeting all those years was not in vain after all."

"It's the least I can do," said Barry, "I never did give you anything in return for that giant cookie you gave me."

Alison at last had what she'd sought so long: the real hope of meeting a Little man of her own. She could not travel in time like Kristeene, who was searching various time periods of earth for the Little Man of her dreams, having reduced herself and her giant STM to earthling proportions. Yet she was free to explore the earth of 2010 on her quest for inter-size romance.

Alison may not have needed to go to earth to find one, because out in the city's largest park, the one closest to the forest, the Warpsqueeze had landed with its crew, its writers and its university followers.


	25. So why would you want to be skinny?

Kontakte and Thomas had brought the Warpsqueeze down smoothly with power to spare in the park in the middle of the day, while Eli and Danielle were just beginning their ordeal.

Several office secretaries were sitting on seats in the park during their lunch hours, enjoying a chance to eat their meals out of the offices in which they worked from nine until five. Upon sighting the Warpsqueeze's semi-public landing, they got up and approached, gently, so as to honour the new laws and cause the Little People no fear.

"Could this be new Little People?" one of them remarked, as Louisa led the party out of the ship to meet their giant spectators, "I'm Jonsonia."

"I'm Louisa, the leader of our party," said Ms Pearson, "And you are correct in assuming that we have only arrived on your planet. We're looking for a group of seven people we feel certain must have come here from our world some 27 years ago."

"She must mean the ones we've seen on Size Doesn't Scatter and the Cary Wringer show on TV," said another giantess, "The earlier Little Men have been in some interesting talk show interviews about their inter-size romances."

Thomas, along with a few of the passengers, found this remark to be interesting, to say the least.

The other secretaries introduced themselves too: Em-Elsy, Rocks-Ann, Langie, Hydea, Martina, Chifleyta, Ampera, Macquara, and Darlinga.

"I think we know what happened to the Spindrift now," said Pierre.

"You don't need to be afraid of us," said Chifleyta, "We're always happy to welcome Little People. We'll give you any help you need, and I'm sure we'd each be glad to have some of you board with us and look after your ship too."

The secretaries each took down Jonsonia's telephone number, to coordinate future arrangements, and Louisa encouraged them to gather up some earthlings to take with them. Jonsonia herself took Thomas, Kontakte, and the Warpsqueeze.

The exposure of Bertha's criminal history with the secret society had hurt her network's ratings severely. Cary Wringer's network soon held the number one position in the ratings, uncontested in any timeslot. The Frye Network was heavily investigated, and left in the hands of its deputy CEO. It was spiralling downwards in a matter of days, and stocks were soon sold quickly.

Jonsonia and Louisa eventually contacted Cary's network, and asked if the new Little People could appear on a new Cary Wringer show, to announce their presence in the Land of the Giants in the hope of making contact with Captain Steve Burton's group of Little People. The show was a success, and with the Warpsqueeze functioning perfectly and able to return the new visitors through the warp any time they wished, Steve and his friends saw no reason to compromise the security of giant Betty's apartment by mentioning the teleporters to the new visitors. It meant that they had no way to bring up the fact that they had been returning to and from earth a lot and had already become familiar with Mark's discovery of Louisa's web site.

The new community of Little People was happy to have its members make their homes with the secretaries. Those who wished to return home were taken back to earth by Kontakte and Thomas, who then returned to the Land of the Giants to explore what had become the moral utopia that they had landed on. Steve and Mark were particularly keen to share the planet's history with them. This gave Louisa's crew a good understanding of how blessed they had been to have arrived at a time when the Supreme Council would honour their rights and ensure their safety.

Louisa had her answers now. Yet something told her that it would be wise, even when she returned to earth, not to publicise her findings on the web site after all. For earthlings the world over to know of a warp to a Land of the Giants would make her team's secret giant utopia somewhat less special. After 27 years of devotion to her Spindrift cause, Louisa did not want it to turn into a worldwide earth craze. Her crew and passengers unanimously agreed with her on that matter.

Both widows Altha Franzen and Kristeene (surviving wife of the late Thorrg) had used their giant STMs to shrink themselves to earthling size and explore earth in various time periods. While Altha had been somewhat reckless in her use of time travel and size changing technology, Kristeene considered that it would be unsuitable for her to marry someone from a time prior to 1984, as it might take that man away from a wife that he might have had in the original timeline. So she decided to confine her search to any time after 1983.

Having shrunken herself and gone to earth in late 1984, Kristeene wandered the world and found that most of the boys and young men who caught the reduced giant model's fancy already had girlfriends or young wives. Yet the happiness of her days with Thorrg would not allow her to abandon her quest for inter-size romance and return alone to the Land of the Giants. Her time with Thorrg would have made an excellent subject for an episode of the Cary Wringer show in 2010, but Kristeene had never been to either world in that time period.

At the end of each unsuccessful day of searching earth 1984, Kristeene used her STM to return to her home in the Land of the Giants, and slept the night before venturing out again. Each day she would take some giant food with her, without shrinking it, so that it would amply feed her earthling sized reduced form. Though extremely wealthy in the Land of the Giants, she had no money on earth, and this procedure kept her well fed during her visits.

To gain a quick supply of one of the earth currencies, she found a modelling agency, which placed her with a company filming some commercials encouraging people to resist the standard Hollywood and television conditioning about weight loss. By the opinion of the earth masses, Kristeene was a little overweight. Yet the producer of the commercials had a preference for such physiques. Though he didn't appeal to Kristeene romantically, she believed in his cause, and modelled for his commercials. Soon she had enough money to get by on, and was able to purchase train tickets and other small earth necessities, without needing to pay for accommodation, thanks to her STM and her giant mansion estate at home.

One afternoon, she was riding in the downstairs section of a railway carriage, when she noticed that an extremely handsome adolescent boy at the top of the stairs, near the train doors, had been letting his eyes wander her way quite frequently. The lad was 16, and clearly shy. With the confidence and experience of a model in her twenties, Kristeene soon had his number, metaphorically speaking, and knew that the simple thing to do was wait for him to alight from the train and follow.

She soon caught up to the lad at the top of the railway station stairs and turned to smile at him.

"I'm Kristeene," she said, beginning a conversation just like that.

"I'm pleased to meet you, Kristeene," said the boy, "I'm Chad."

They walked and talked for a while, until they reached Chad's street.

"Would you like to see me again, Chad?" she asked.

"Yes," said Chad.

"Where's a good place to meet you? I can pay for outings, if you're not working while you're at school. Are there any nice cafes you can show me?"

He thought of one in the closest large metropolitan area to his suburb and arranged to meet her there on Friday afternoon as soon as the train brought him to that station after school. Coincidentally, it had been that station that the train had been stopped at, when she had noticed him staring.

After a few dates, he had loosened his nerves up enough for her to mention her advertisements and ask his opinion.

"I'm sorry I haven't seen them," he said, "My parents don't let me watch much TV with my school work. I'm glad you're not skinny though. I think that a bigger woman looks nicer."

He had unwittingly said exactly what she'd been hoping for. She knew he wasn't turning it on. A boy that age on his first dating opportunities would speak only from the heart.

"Just how much bigger is still nice to you?" she asked, with a secret reflection of mischief as she felt her STM nudged against the near side of her handbag.

"Well if you were taller, and proportionately wider, I'd still like you just as much, in fact even more. But you're fine to me as you are."

"How much taller and wider?" she asked, "What if I was a giant?"

"You mean twice my height?" he asked in reply.

"Well how about much bigger than that? What if I was so big that you were the size of one of my fingers?"

He stared at her with fascination and pictured what she had just described.

"I'd love it," he said, "It sounds exciting, but we wouldn't have room for privacy, and anyway, you can't become a giant."

"Maybe I can become a giant," she said, smiling in a curiously pleasant way, "And maybe I know somewhere that would have all the room I needed."

"I like this game. So where would that be?" he asked.

"On a whole planet of giants, in a city like yours only giant sized," said Kristeene.

"Well it's nice to imagine it," he said, "And I'm glad I met you. You're such an interesting beautiful girlfriend."

"I used to be married," she said, "Does that put you off at all?"

"No. If someone else liked you enough to marry you, then it just makes you all the more desirable to me," said Chad.

"He was your size too, but I met him on my giant world, when I was a giant," said Kristeene.

"I wish this was real," said Chad, "But it's fun, and so are you, Kristeene."

They went walking to the station and caught the train back to his suburb. He took her to a park and she stared happily at him.

"You're so young and handsome," she said, and put her arms around him and kissed him.

"You're so big and beautiful," said Chad, "I wish you really could become a giant."

"You still don't believe me, do you?" she laughed, "I really can become a giant. I'll show you one day. I'd like to keep you wondering about it for a while first. That's fun too."

After six weeks of dating, the school year came to an end, and Kristeene and Chad had more time together in the school holidays. One day they went on a bushwalk together, in one of Chad's favourite locations. They stopped at a high point and sat on a rock and looked down at the river and kissed each other several times.

"So you still don't think I'm really a giant, do you?"

"I'd love it if you were, but I'm a rational boy. My report card said I do well at school because I analyse the facts," said Chad.

"Would you like me to give you some new facts to analyse?" mused Kristeene, taking her STM out of her handbag and strapping the bag over her shoulder.

"Sure," said Chad.

Kristeene set the STM for her own home in the Land of the Giants, and took them both there instantly. After a few white sparks had dissipated, Chad could see that he was standing on the lawn of a giant sized garden.

"The scale of everything is impossible!" said Chad, "Yet there it is. I do believe you now. I'm sorry I didn't. I've just never seen anything like this before. Can you really become a giant?"

"I can. Would you like me to?" asked Kristeene, embracing him after putting down her bag and the STM.

"More than anything," said Chad.

Kristeene stepped back, picked up her bag and STM, activated the STM and restored herself and the STM to their natural giant sizes. Chad found himself looking up at the grand sight of the beautiful model in her towering pale green dress.

"Would you like me to pick you up?" she asked.

"Would I ever!" said Chad.

She lifted him up and sat him on a shoulder which was the most impressive upper body contact he had ever imagined he could enjoy. She sat on a garden chair, and talked with him. Eventually he walked across and kissed her giant neck.

"I came looking for someone your size on your world. I'm a former model on this world too, and I dismissed lots of men on your world, and found that lots more were unavailable. None of them are as sweet and handsome as you, Chad. I'm very glad to have you here, and my device can take us to earth and back whenever we like, and can also change my size to yours or mine as often as we like."

He saw her hand approaching, and was lifted up a few more feet to her mouth and kissed by her incredible giant lips.

Perhaps the greatest of all inter-size romances had begun some 26 years before television shows like Size Doesn't Scatter and the Cary Wringer show would ever start to document them.


	26. Deadly Queen

In 2010, Louisa's team of Little People were gradually meeting the Spindrift families and members of Minders Of Little Earthlings. The secretaries were soon amateur celebrities, as the discoverers and boarding hosts of a number of new Little People.

One night Rocks-Ann heard her front door bell ring, and went to answer the door. She opened the door to a masked figure with an unusual looking gun in its hand. When the gun was fired, Rocks-Ann was rendered immobile, allowing the assailant to enter her home and proceed to the room where her boarders, some of the new Little People were living.

Again the unknown housebreaker fired the unfamiliar weapon, and the Little People were rendered motionless. The burglar turned kidnapper then seized a young male university student and left the house.

When the burglar reached her own estate, she removed her mask and noticed that the effects of the gun has at last worn off, and her captive could move and speak again. She placed the boy down on a giant chess table, which had all of the pieces placed in their starting positions for a new game, except for a missing white king. It was on the white king's square, that the woman had placed the young man.

"Why did you kidnap me? Who are you?" said the boy.

"We're going to play a game of chess," said the woman, "We'll get to know each other by talking during the game. You would be wise to play your best at the game. The stakes are very high indeed. You will be your own king. Call out your moves, and I will move your pieces."

"If you say so," said the scholar, and called "Queen's pawn to queen four."

He saw the woman's giant dainty fingers come down and lift the pawn which was on the diagonally adjacent square to his left, and move it two squares further away.

"I am the daughter of our planet's greatest cybernetic scientist and mathematician, the late Mr Kronig," said the woman, and moved her queen's knight to queen's bishop three."

The boy saw that it was threatening to take the pawn that he had just advanced with his own opening move. Still, it was protected by his queen, and the knight would be a more valuable piece for her to have lost.

"I'm Chester," said the boy, "Queen's bishop to king's bishop four."

"My name's Brooke," said Kronig's daughter, moving her queen's pawn to queen three, "I should point out that there is one extra element my father incorporated into this chess table, which may work against either one of us. You may have noticed a certain buzzing hum coming from under the squares. Each of the squares is actually a trapdoor, wired to a computer, which will periodically randomly select a trapdoor to open. Any piece on the door will fall down into the furnace below. My father designed it for his greatest game of all between himself and the best chess player of the original group of Little People. It was a game that he never really finished. I have now inherited his estate, but no longer employ his guards, and am issuing you with the same challenge."

"Queen to queen three," said Chester, "But what if I'm on the trapdoor that opens?"

"That is part of the challenge," said Brooke, "Not only must you defeat me in this game, but you must brave the element of risk and do it before your luck runs out with the trapdoors."

She moved her queen's bishop to king three.

"But why would you put me through such a dangerous game of chess?" he asked, "Queen's knight to queen's bishop three."

"The danger is all yours," said Brooke, moving her queen to queen two, "I am a very beautiful woman, as any man can see, including Little People. I have seen a number of inter-size romances on television of late, and I would like to have a Little husband who will always give me a challenging rewarding game of chess, though without the complication of the trapdoors after (and if) he has won this first game. The game you play with me now will determine whether or not you are that worthy marriage partner. If you lose the game, I'll press a button which instantly opens all the trapdoors at once, and you will fall to your fate. If you stand on an unlucky square, you'll fall through and forfeit the game anyway. If you beat me, you will have my hand in marriage."

"Castle on the queen's side," said Chester, "Do you want me to walk, so you can just lift the rook?"

"Thank you kindly," said Brooke, "That's right. You Little People call them rooks on earth, don't you? We prefer to name them castles."

The fact that chess could have been invented identically on two different worlds, by people of two different sizes, was no more unusual than the existence of both earth Betty and giant Betty.

Chester walked two squares to his left, and hoped that the trapdoor was not likely to open on the new square he occupied. He saw Brooke lift his queen's rook over his head and place it beside him on queen one. Then she castled with her own pieces as well.

"I think you're stunning, Brooke, and I'd love to marry you. I'm even willing to win your heart by winning a game of chess if it's possible," said Chester, "But I'm not going to proceed with this game if it involves staking my life as well."

"Have a look at this video screen," said Brooke, turning on a screen beside the board which was connected to a camera under the board.

Chester looked and saw what looked like the inside of an oven with something warming inside it.

"That looks like a cake," he said.

"It's a pavlova," said Brooke, "I modified my father's furnace into an oven. It won't burn you, but it will cook that pavlova, and you with it. If you don't win this game, you'll find that the pavlova cushions your fall most comfortably, and soon after that you'll be swallowed down as you are along with the rest of my dessert."

"Oh my goodness!" said Chester, "You're going to eat me if I lose, and marry me if I win?"

"You can see what awaits you down there. Surely playing for the chance of a life of marriage with me is far more appealing than my just pressing the button that opens all the trapdoors now. That's what I'll do, if you don't comply."

"You win," said Chester.

"Not yet, but I might in a while," said Brooke with a laugh.

"Queen to queen's knight five," said Chester.

Brooke moved her knight to queen five, taking Chester's pawn, smiling with glee as the first of his pieces was removed from the board. He looked up at her ravishingly beautiful face with several emotions all running through his head.

"It's hard to concentrate on the game, when I've got so much on my mind, including my feelings for you," he said.

"That makes it a good test for being able to continue playing well as my husband," she replied.

He now had a lot to consider. If he took her knight with his rook, she would take his queen with her own. If he left his queen where it was, she could take it with her queen or her knight. He realised that he had the disadvantage of positioning now, and decided to even things up by forcing a queen swap.

"Queen to queen seven," he said, and watched as she lifted her own queen off the board and replaced it with his queen.

Suddenly the trapdoor opened beneath the bishop of hers that she had recently moved. Chester watched in surprise as the bishop fell out of sight and the door closed again.

"Don't let up on your best efforts," said Brooke, "That could very well have been you."

"I know," said Chester.

Brooke 's main decision was whether to take his queen with her rook or her king. Obviously the rook was the choice to make, leaving the king protected behind a row of three pawns, which she did.

"Rook to queen four," said Chester, and took her knight.

Brooke moved her king's pawn to king four, threatening both his bishop and rook at the same time, while the pawn she had just moved was protected by the one she'd moved earlier on queen three.

"Now you're going to lose a high valued piece and the most you'll gain is a pawn," she said, and looked at the screen with amusement.

The best thing to do was to save the rook, which was more useful than a bishop. The lesser piece could only use the black squares on the board.

"I might as well get the pawn then," he said, "Bishop to king five."

She removed her pawn, and then took his bishop out of the game with her other pawn from queen three to king four.

In so doing, she had again opened a new threat, as she had done to his queen earlier by moving her knight. Now her rook was aimed at his own, with the difference that hers was protected by her king. He was once more compelled to swap high pieces with her in order to avoid coming out behind.

"Rook to queen seven," he said and took her rook.

She took his rook with her king, placing it on queen two. He had at least achieved one extra thing by forcing the exchange of rooks. She had moved her king out from behind the pawns that had hitherto protected it.

He was still processing a flurry of different emotions and anxieties. One minute he was fantasizing about being married to her. The next minute he was thinking of what was under the board.


	27. On the Chess Board Walk

"King's knight's pawn to king's knight three," he said.

"When all else fails, move a pawn," she said and moved her remaining bishop to queen's knight five, threatening his knight.

"Bishop to king's rook three: check," he said.

Her king was now at risk. Brooke moved it back to king one, ironically its starting point.

"Knight to queen five," said Chester.

Now it threatened her bishop, rather than continuing to be threatened by it. Better still, it was on a white square, which was always immune to her black squares bishop, no matter where she put it.

Brooke moved her remaining knight to king's bishop three, which threatened his knight.

"If you keep forcing swaps, you'll have nothing left to beat me with," she said.

"What happens to me if we have a stale mate?" he asked, in reference to the chess term for a draw. (For non-players among the readers, the word 'check' refers to a threat to the opponent's king; the word 'checkmate' refers to completely trapping the opponent's king and thus winning the game; and the word 'stalemate' refers to a draw, where neither player has enough fighting pieces left to trap the opponent's king.

"Then we play again," said Brooke, "And you'll have to chance the running time of another whole game as far as avoiding the trapdoors is concerned."

He decided to consider the advice of her taunt about forcing swaps, as he had just seen another opportunity.

"Knight to queen's bishop seven: check," he said, "What would you have done, if I'd been someone who didn't know how to play chess?"

The move had taken her pawn and attacked her king.

"Well I couldn't have anyone reporting back to the authorities, especially after the Supreme Council have passed all that new legislation. If you win, I'll have to keep you under wraps. I guess a non-player would just have to go through the trapdoors without a game to determine it," said Brooke.

She was indifferent as her father had been, to the effect of her games on helpless Little People, even if she had included the bait of marriage as an extra incentive for playing the game. Kronig himself had originally threatened to turn Steve Burton's group over to the SID if they lost, before his fixation with death had taken over in the latter half of the game.

Brooke moved her king to queen two, so that it was safe from the knight and also an imminent threat to the knight now.

He examined the board closely. If he moved the knight to the back row, it would be taken by her rook.

"Knight to queen's knight five," he said.

"Retreating, are we?" mused Brooke.

He kept wracking his brains for a way to gain a decisive victory in the game. Her king was more exposed than his, but he was having trouble getting his more powerful pieces out into the game.

He suddenly felt the floor fall away beneath him, and briefly caught a gasp of amusement on her face, as he fell through the trapdoor.

"Looks like I'll have to take my immobilizing pistol out in search of another potential husband," she said aloud.

It was the last sound he heard for a while, and then the trapdoor closed above him. The oven had lighting built into its walls and the pavlova was soft and comfortable. He struggled a little to get his head above the surface, and then waited and waited. Above him, he could hear her resetting the pieces in their starting positions on the board and presumably adding one to replace the bishop of her own that had fallen through a trapdoor.

Soon she would capture another university student from the Little People, who had made themselves and their hosts well known on television and relatively easy for a second generation cybernetics expert to track down. For now, his immediate concern was preparing himself to be eaten. The giantess had a beautiful mouth, and he had seen her licking her lips with pleasure on several occasions during their unfinished game of chess. He briefly wondered whether or not he could have won the game, still thinking of a move which he would now never be able to make anyway. Then he turned his thoughts back to being her dessert.

Her long neck had stood out clearly from the angle at which he had been looking up at her from the back row of the chess board. He imagined what it would be like to feel it gulping him down intact. In many ways, the fate she had in mind for him had more appeal than the way her father had used the trapdoors.

He was still daydreaming about all of these things, when suddenly the wall of the oven opened in front of him, as it was in fact a door. He saw her lean down and look in, smiling.

"I guess everyone likes a vore loser," she said, "Time to count the cost, little Chester."

She took the pavlova tray from the oven, placed it on a plate and took it to the dining table. He watched as she spooned pavlova happily into her mouth, until she was almost full. Then she spooned him out of the remainder, and licked him several times with a tongue that he would love to have married, and then held him above her open mouth, with her head tilted back, as her mouth pronounced with pride the words: "Checkmate, Chester."

He was lowered onto her tongue and slid quickly into her gulping throat. It was a different fall to the one from the chessboard to the oven, but not without some of the original pavlova waiting to cushion him at the bottom, he reflected.

A number of members of the Spindrift families and all of Louisa's group and their hostesses were watching the television for a special new one-off episode of the Cary Wringer show.

"I'm Cary Wringer here to open the year 2011 with another true confession story about romances with Little People, though this one will surprise you, in that it differs dramatically from any of those that we've seen before," said Cary, "My first guest is Jodar, owner and founder of the Jodar Pharmaceuticals company. Now tell us firstly about your non-romantic encounter with the Little People who came along 28 years ago," said Cary.

"Well they'd been here about a year, when I was ready to test an enlarging formula," said Jodar, "It worked on their dog, making him the size of a similar breed of our own dogs. Then one of their members a Mr Fitzhugh used some of it and grew to the size of one of our people and got himself in trouble with Inspector Kobick who was the head of the SID back then. The Little People's Captain Burton used some to pose as a lawyer from my home town of Elops, and then I reversed the process to create an antidote pill to get the three of them back to their Little People size," said Jodar.

"But that wasn't the end of your formula's use," said Cary, "Tell us what happened next."

"Well around five years after that, I met the prettiest Little young woman I'd ever seen. She had found a small space warp which led from ground level on her world to ground level in Elops. We were both in love, but we wanted to make her my size, so that we could be together in the traditional way. She was 22 at the time. I was 15. So I made some more of my formula, and enlarged her to my size, and she waited until I was old enough to ask her to marry me. We've been together ever since."

"And here she is to join us now," said Cary, "Welcome to Jodar's lovely wife Lizette."

A beautiful giant woman walked onto the stage and sat beside them.

"It's her, Lizette!" said Pierre, "I was in her cousin Jane's Bible study group in 1987. Every now and then Lizette came along too, when she was visiting Jane, until around halfway through 1988. After that I never heard from her again. Now I know why."

"You should give them a call," said Kontakte, "I'm sure she'd love to catch up with you and hear about how things have changed on earth after more than two decades of cultural development."

"I will," said Pierre, "Who'd have thought one of my old friends had become a giant?"

"So here you are, one of the Little People, though nobody would have known for 23 years," said Cary, "What was it like to leave your home world behind and change your size to fit in here?"

"I did it for love," said Lizette, beaming sideways at Jodar, "I've never regretted it. He's made me very happy."

"Well we understand that you two are going public with this romance in the light of the recent favourable Little People legislation passed by the Supreme Council," said Cary.

"And the exposure and defeat of the secret society," said Lizette.

"But perhaps our most important motive is to market something, which you've kindly allowed us to promote on your show," said Jodar, "I am now putting my size changing formulas in all Jodar Pharmacy stores, so that anyone from our people who wants to reduce their size and become Little People will have the opportunity, and anyone who wants to purchase one for a Little Person, so that the earthling can enlarge to our size will also have that made possible. I'm inviting the leaders of the Little People, or any other representatives of theirs, to contact me to discuss the possibility of people from our world reducing themselves and going to earth, should they wish to for marriage to Little People or any other reasons. I understand that, regardless of the current status of Lizette's warp, the recent arrival of Little People came in a space ship with a large passenger transport capacity. I should think that, between that and my formulae, we should be able to organise a number of interplanetary ventures between our two worlds."

"Well I'm sure your secretaries can expect some calls to the number coming up on our screen in the near future," said Cary, "And this promises to open all sorts of doors for both Little People and our own. In fact the line between the two will become somewhat blurred, I'm sure, with people changing sizes by means of over the counter medication."

The news was stunning for everyone. Steve Burton and the other five survivors of the original Spindrift flight knew of Jodar's formulae, and had kept them a secret as surely as Jodar himself had done. It had been funny, Steve reflected, that he had had several encounters with Kobick after the one in which he had posed as Fitzhugh's giant lawyer. Yet nothing more had been said of his temporary giant size. He had never been questioned about it. Perhaps Kobick had assumed that the Little People had invented a growth formula themselves and that it had worn off and been irreplaceable. Or maybe the subsequent concerns over the Delta Effect, the toadstool dust incident and Dr Greer's secret society bombing attempt had kept Kobick's mind too occupied to ponder the nature of Steve's and Fitzhugh's temporary giant size.


	28. Trapdoors for Young Players

What Steve did not know, was that he had been identified from a photograph of himself and earth Betty taken when Steve had been normal sized. Keen to identify Steve, Kobick had only glanced with disinterest at earth Betty's face in the photo. He had since captured earth Betty on more than one occasion, and, if he had ever even passed giant Betty in the street, he had not registered anything similar between her and the Little Betty of earth.

Most inter-size couples had paired up because of the unique appeal of inter-size relationships. Barry and giant Betty had no desire to alter either of their sizes. Inspector Camilla Evers and Dolf felt the same way about each other. Lahtina and Alan Wilson were fixated on their size difference for reasons of their own.

The key exception, as far as existing relationships was concerned, was Nick and Caroline. They sold the giant house and all their assets, and converted the proceeds to gold, which they took to earth in the next flight of the Warpsqueeze, and used it to set themselves up in comfort on earth. Caroline and her three daughters all took the reducing pills from Jodar Pharmacy before making the trip, and they paid Kontakte, Thomas and Louisa Pearson a significant fee for the transporting of their giant gold in the ship.

Steve Burton and Louisa Pearson were both of the opinion that it would be wise to have the discussions about the size changing pills and the warp to earth with the members of M.O.L.E. present.

The main thing to emerge from the meeting was that all parties agreed that it was best to keep the new developments, and the existence of the Land of the Giants, a secret from the greater population of earth. Unlike the Land of the Giants, the earth's culture was in complete moral decline in 2011, with no signs of it getting any better. To make the world leaders and populations of earth aware of the paradise that the Land of the Giants was becoming was to spread the original serpent's curse of the Garden of Eden onto another world.

President Tim managed to push through legislation that would bind all members of both worlds, including once anyone had left the Land of the Giants to go to earth, making it unlawful to reveal the existence of the Land of the Giants or the size changing pills to anyone on earth other than a trusted potential spouse or extremely close friend.

Jodar and Lizette had Lizette's old friend Pierre over for a video night one evening, and Jodar enjoyed meeting one of her old acquaintances from earth.

Late in the evening, Jodar left the two of them to catch up, as he was expecting a busy day of administering the new ventures that his announcement on the Cary Wringer show had initiated.

They talked for a while, and then Lizette looked down at Pierre and silently gave the smile that would accompany a sudden giggle, but managed to suppress her vocal chords.

"What's funny?" asked Pierre.

"I could eat you alive," she said.

"Really," said Pierre.

"I think I always must have subconsciously had a vore crush on you, even before I ever found my way here."

"I felt the same way about you from the first night you came to Bible study at Jane's in 1987," said Pierre.

"You did? You should have said something."

"I saw you say something and then react to your own comment by sticking out your tongue. I was partly to the right of and partly in front of your face, at a 45 degree angle. I saw your tongue come out and it drove me wild. I didn't know about giants or this place, but I went home imagining you shrinking me down and eating me. I had no idea that anyone thought the same way, or that it would be possible. I thought you'd have laughed in my face, and I liked your friendship so much. Then in 1988, you were gone, and I only found out why when I saw you on the Cary Wringer show."

"Do you still have that longing, or have you grown out of it?"

"It's there, as strong as ever. I think the fact that you're three years older than me will always make the thought of it that bit more exciting. I was staring constantly at your mouth on the TV screen, though I only told my earth friends that I knew you in a Bible study group, without making any mention of my vore crush."

"I understand your discretion," she said, and told him about the Cary Wringer episode she'd seen, when Lahtina and Alan had confessed their vore crush to both Flora and the television audience and home viewers, "I never told anyone. I had enough to think about with keeping my earthling origin a secret until now. Still Alan and Lahtina unintentionally defeated their own hopes by admitting them on citywide television. Nobody knows about you and me. Technically the legislation only governs how native giants treat the Little People too. They simply don't have a law to prevent an enlarged giant earthling from eating a willing acquaintance, and I'm sure I could come up with some explanation for your absence. I can have you in my tummy in an enjoyable half an hour or less, Pierre. I'm so pleased you came to see me."

"I'd love it more than ever, if only you'd brought me here with you and told me about it before you got married," said Pierre, "But I shouldn't involve us in something that would give us such an incredible level or arousal, when you're committed in marriage to Jodar. It would bely every principle we learned about the sanctity of marriage in our Bible study group."

"You're right," said Lizette, "For a minute I was forgetting myself. The suicidal consequences would be rather unbiblical too. Now that I think of it, Lahtina and Alan would be taking it a step too far."

"Yes, but if you'd been single I'd have love to have gone through most of the motions of being gobbled up by you," said Pierre.

"And I would have loved to have done most of the gobbling," said Lizette, "We'll keep this discussion to ourselves, but I hope you'll stay in touch with me from now on. You're the oldest and most special friend I have among the Little People."

"You're technically one too," he said.

"Yes, but I haven't been little for a long time, have I?" said Lizette.

Alison Hunter, Kristeene the model and Altha Franzen were all unaware of the new developments in the Land of the Giants in 2011. These three giant women had all gone to earth after reducing their sizes by other means. Kristeene and Altha had used giant Space Time Manipulators (STM's) and were both living in earlier times. Altha had come from her home time of 1985 to 1977 and been an earth teacher at an elementary school from 1977 to 1980. Kristeene had remained in 1985, but had paired up with a handsome boy named Chad.

Alison had used the confiscated Piper's flute to change her size, and Barry's teleporter to go to earth in search of a boyfriend, where she was still looking in 2011.

Not long after Jodar's confessions and announcements on the Cary Wringer show, another secretary's Little People boarding house was raided by the masked Brooke. Again the owner and all of the Little People were immobilized long enough for Brooke to take one Little university student back to the mansion of her grand estate, place him on the chessboard, and outline the terms of their game.

While her previous opponent had been more focussed on the unfairness of the terms, this new boy, named Jordy was so keen on Brooke, that he treated the game with less trepidation and more fascination.

"You opened up my defences well with that pawn swap, but I'm not through yet," said Brooke.

"So what would be your ideal plan for a first date?" asked Jordy.

"A firelight chat on the couch for me, and a giant kiss for you," said Brooke.

"That would be nice," said Jordy, as she moved a knight out of the back row, in an attempt to clear the way to castle on the king's side, now that he had thinned her ranks on the queen's side, "I'd love to sit with you in the park where our ship first landed. I think you'd look great in a one piece dress too."

"Thank you, little man," she said, "Now what's your next move?"

He put her in check, which forced her to move her king, as there were no low value pieces that she could place in the path of his attacking bishop. Now she would not be able to castle at all, which would also make it harder to get her best fighting pieces out into the game.

"I'm glad you don't wear lipstick," he said, "It makes any lady look younger and more attractive, and your kisses will be nicer if they're not sticky."

"Don't you think you're doing an awful lot of planning ahead?" she asked, "I could still win this game either by beating you or by the luck of the trapdoors. You know what would happen then."

"I know, but I like talking to you. You're an attractive lady, and an exciting one. If I lose the game, I'll never have the chance to court you at all, unless I do it now, in the hope that I can benefit from it by winning. Even if I don't get the chance, I'm glad to be able to get to know you during the game."

"Your predecessor didn't have your level head about such things. I think it made him more nervous, and caused him to play a less effective string of manoeuvres in the game," said Brooke, "Although in the end, it was the trapdoor that got him."

"If it gets me, it gets me," said Jordy, "If it doesn't, I hope I'll beat you and win your heart. In either case, there's nothing to be gained by worrying about it."

"You really are a cool customer," said Brooke.

One of his pieces was suddenly taken by a trapdoor. He had just lost a pawn, but it was not in a key position. He could still win.

The game continued, and little by little people, he managed to capture more pieces of Brooke's than Jordy lost to her and the trapdoors combined. Eventually, he reached the point where he had only a king and a rook on the board. Brooke had only her king.

"You've done well so far," she said, "I trust you know how to win with only a castle to help you."

"I do," he said, "It'll take me a while to pin you in the corner, but it's inevitable."

"Unless the trapdoor gets you first," she reminded him.

"If it gets the rook, we'll have to start again," said Jordy.

It took him countless moves to get her anywhere near the corner of the board, during which time four trapdoors opened beneath unoccupied squares, including the one between himself and her own king.

"Checkmate!" he said at last.

"Congratulations!" she said, and turned off the screen and the trapdoor computer.

Brooke lifted him off the chess table and kissed him.

"You put up a convincing battle yourself," said Jordy, "It was an interesting game. Maybe we could turn the heating elements off down there, and put some small trampolines under the trapdoors and then play another game with nothing at stake."

"What a novel idea," she said, "I think we'll give that a try."

When all of the initial administrative tasks associated with setting up the new ventures (between Jodar Pharmaceuticals and the Little People) were out of the way, for the time being at least, M.O.L.E. held a meeting with Jodar and most of the Little People currently in the Land of the Giants.

"Jodar, when our organisation Minders Of Little Earthlings was first formed," said Dal, "It was a gathering of friends of Little People from this city who had grown to adulthood and remained concerned for the welfare of earthlings. As you lived in another town of Elops, and kept your involvement a well-preserved secret, we were not aware of your eligibility for membership in our group. However, your recent offer on the Cary Wringer show has made an impression on all of us. We have discussed it with the Little People as well, and would unanimously like to offer you full membership in M.O.L.E."

Needless to say, Jodar accepted with thanks.

In an elderly folks nursing home in the town of Elops, an aged giant man reflected on the way the society had changed in recent years. He had retired from his job some years ago, and was no longer physically up to taking an active role in society. He had never known of the secret society, let alone had any involvement with it. Yet, as he had recently learned, his every action for years had been engineered by the global organisation which had used the nonesuch threat of the Little People for decades in a failed attempt to spearhead a new order built around the wishes of the society's members and the most corrupt former members of the Supreme Council. It was no longer his problem. He wondered how he would have coped with the changes, had he still been middle aged, fit, active, and involved.

Things were definitely no longer as they had once been.

Former SID Inspector Kobick sighed, and returned to a magazine he had been reading.


	29. When Lost meets Limbo

Since 1984, a corrupted emperor had ruled a city far from the Supreme Council's country in the Land of the Giants. He had subjugated people by attaching collars to their necks, which he controlled with a series of buttons in his chamber. The collars could cause intense pain. On one occasion in 1984, some of the Little People had been caught in a balloon gondola which carried them over the Sea of Storms and into the city, which they forever remembered only as the Land of the Lost. Having proved their uniqueness in size, by providing the emperor with photographs of giants, the Little People were then able to set up a distraction and escape.

Over time, the emperor's equally evil son Hereticus had succeeded him in time to benefit from the way the father had rebuilt the damaged portions of his empire. By 2011, Hereticus was ready to set his sights on his father's old objective: to subjugate the people across the Sea of Storms as well. Hereticus sent a small team of spies to survey the land around the nearest coastal city, which was under the jurisdiction of SID Inspector Camilla Evers.

They returned to the Land of the Lost and informed Hereticus of a suitable area outside the city, beyond the far outskirts of its forest, where they could construct a laborartory and set up equipment to produce enough collars and control panels to enable them to take over the ruling bodies of the city.

Back in 1982, Altha (who had travelled from 1985 to earth 1977 and passed herself off as an elementary school science teacher from 1977 to 1980, was now a science teacher in a co-educational high school, which had a large forest behind it, and hence the nostalgic appeal of her homeworld). One of Altha's students in year 9 was so attracted to her, that he desperately wanted to find out everything he could about her. To that end, he waited until one day when she had to leave the classroom abruptly after school, and noticed that she had left her handbag under her desk.

Everyone else had gone and the boy, named William, went and looked in her bag. If he could only learn her address, he might be able to ostensibly 'bump into her' outside of school hours.

There was nothing in the bag to indicate her address, but there was an unfamiliar device, which had the outward dimensions of a small transistor radio. It had dials and buttons on it, which seemed rather complex to a high school student. He began fiddling with the unit, until it emitted a burst of sparks and suddenly became so heavy that he dropped it. He looked around and found that he was now on the floor beside her bag and the device, just as he had been before, but his height seemed to be compatible to the width of the device.

William's uneducated meddling with Altha's already reduced giant STM had reduced himself (but not the STM, which had already reached the limits of its size compression) to tiny size. William tried adjusting the controls on the device, in the hope of reversing whatever he'd done to himself, but was unable to effect a change before he heard the footsteps of a woman's shoes, and was sure that Mrs Franzen was coming back to the classroom. He ducked behind a table leg, and peeked around, as she came into the room and noticed her STM lying on the floor.

Returning it to her bag, Mrs Franzen deduced that a wayward student had found the STM and attempted to use it. It was set on reduction. She was now sure that one of her students had reduced himself. She got down on the floor and crawled around on hands and knees, until she saw him before he could move around the leg and out of sight.

"So you're the one who's been tampering with things that don't belong to you," said Altha.

"I didn't know what I was doing, Mrs Franzen. I only intended to look in your bag to find out more about you, because … I'm in love with you."

"And this is how you show it!" she said.

"I know. You're a giant now," he said.

"You have no idea," said Altha, looking down at him coldly."

William felt embarrassed and disgraced. All he had done was make a bad impression on her. By the time she'd restored his size and sent him home, he would never be able to think of a way to win back her trust, let alone impress her.

"I'm sorry, Mrs Franzen. I guess I need you to make me big again," he said.

"And why should I do that?" she asked, lifting him up and placing him on the desk, "You shouldn't even know about this device. I'm going to leave you that size forever. I'm going to lock the classroom door and leave you here, while I go out and buy a cage to contain you. I'll teach you to do things like this, young man!"

William looked around for a means of escape. Even outside the room, Altha had all the advantages. He looked at what lay on top of her desk. There were pens, books, and other items of stationery. Finally he had an idea. He took some of her pens, and positioned them in such a way as to make up the frame of a hang glider. Then he began unrolling sticky tape, tearing off the strips, and stuck the frame together. Finally, he tore a page from a book, after exerting himself to heave open the cover He folded it into a shape to fit the framework, and then stuck it to the framework.

The open window was a little lower than the height of Mrs Franzen's desk. Gripping the hang glider, William took a lengthy run-off and shook with anxiety, as his feet left the ground. He managed to maintain the height he needed, until he reached the window ledge, but not enough to glide over it in one move. Struggling to reposition the hang glider, he was forced to take off without a run-off, and glided over the two storey high view of the garden. Little by little he lost height, and found that he had not fully cleared the school grounds when the hang glider reached the grass below.

Leaving it behind, he ran for the forest. He knew that he was heading away from the very device that was the only means of restoring his size, but it was all he could do. Its owner's plans for him were not nearly so benevolent, and he had to make his bid for escaping her while he had the chance. William ran into the forest, and kept running, knowing that if she had the slightest idea where he'd gone, she'd be able to catch up to him in little time with the aid of her full sized legs. His only hope was in heading as far into the forest as possible, before she discovered his absence, and then concealing himself before she noticed the absence of her pens and searched the gardens to come across the makeshift hang glider.

The sun was beginning to set, when he heard distinct footsteps running through the forest, rustling a number of fallen leaves on her way. Mrs Franzen had followed the clues and was well and truly after him now. He could make no more attempts to outdistance her. He had to sneak into the thickest foliage of all and wait until the sun went down.

Mrs Franzen came very close to his final hiding spot, but was unable to locate him. She eventually gave up and went home.

In 2011, Hereticus led a team of his soldiers and scientists on a flight across the Sea of Storms to the more widely populated giant city. They used some wealth to purchase materials from a plurality of stores, so that none of the suppliers had any idea that their goods would be used to construct a machine and the collars that it would control.

Soon their laboratory was constructed, including an enormous solar battery to store and retain, and when necessary release all the power they needed. Within a few months, they had built the collar control machine, and produced at least enough collars to control every member of the supreme council.

What they hadn't counted on was that their laboratory had been constructed close to the underground Secret City of Limbo. Since 1984, Azar's successor had organised work to strengthen the city and also to construct more tunnels to the surface. This enabled the guards of Limbo to sneak up to the surface, spy on Hereticus's people and learn of their invasion plans.

Justik the ruler of Limbo met with his people and discussed the merits and risks of apprehending Hereticus and his men themselves. On the one hand, with their ray guns, they could probably take out the advanced team of invaders now, but the small population of Limbo would have no chance of coping if all the forces of Hereticus's people came to their aid en masse. Justik decided that to do nothing would be to leave the area almost directly above Limbo open to a huge risk of danger that could explode the very walls and rooves of their city. There was only one thing to do.


	30. Settled in Size and Place

Now that any giant was able to reduce themselves by taking some of the Jodar Pharmaceuticals formula, the SID felt more convinced than ever of the need to have a Little Person on their staff regularly. Dolf was happy to work with Camilla as a labour of love anyway, but Inspector Evers insisted that the SID set up a bank account in order to pay him for his services.

They were going through some case notes, when they were visited by Justik of Limbo, requesting an urgent and private meeting with the head of the SID.

"I have vital news for your governing rulers," said Justik.

"That would be the Supreme Council, but we should hear your cause first, being the prime intelligence representatives of both Little People and the local authority," said Inspector Evers.

"Very well then. It is after deep reflection that I now take this step of revealing to you that I come from a hidden underground colony, whose members have lived in peace for decades, since an earlier group of Little People altered a chemical experiment to protect our city from discovery. We have recently observed the advanced scientific and military incursion of a group of invaders from another part of your world, beyond the Sea of Storms. They have set up a base near our city, and have been producing a technology of painful control devices which will be used to enslave your people. I come to enlist your aid in defeating them, primarily to save your city from invasion, but also to protect our own city from discovery or destruction by the invaders," said Justik, "I offer you the full support of our own forces. You will find us well armed but few in number."

"I think we need to see this for ourselves," said Camilla, "And the person most likely to go in undetected would be Dolf. Are you up for it?"

"Absolutely," said Dolf, and the three of them, with a complement of SID officers waiting on the edge of the forest, soon gathered enough intelligence on the invaders to justify a meeting with the Supreme Council.

President Tim thanked Dolf and Justik for their assistance, and mobilized all of their military forces. Hereticus's advanced forces were captured, and imprisoned, and the collars and control machine destroyed. The Supreme Council then sent most of their military to fly to the Land of the Lost, where they were prepared to take control of the city as a pre-emptive strike.

However, with the news of the defeat of Hereticus, the majority of the citizens in the Land of the Lost were relieved at the defeat of their tyrannical rulers and glad to have the city placed under the rule of the Supreme Council. The few remaining genuine sympathizers of Hereticus, without the aid of collar controlled servants, were no trouble to the Supreme Council's forces and agreed to live in peace. The Land of the Lost became part of the Supreme Council's kingdom.

Furthermore, the Supreme Council, as they had recently done with the Little People, thanked Justik's people for their assistance, and invited them to have representatives holding seats on the Supreme Council, so that Justik's people could form a permanent alliance with them.

Limbo was no longer a secret city, and became one of the most popular tourist attractions on the giant world. Some of the citizens of Limbo enjoyed the option of moving to the surface, and a few of the surface people were keen to try life in Limbo. As the three kingdoms were integrated together, life became still more interesting in the Land of the Giants, with all citizens of all three realms instructed to respect the rights of Little People.

On earth in 2011, William had grown up learning to survive in the forest. A few times over the years, he had snuck back into the school to try to get at Altha's device and attempt to restore his size, but he never saw any opportunity where the risk of being recaptured didn't far outweigh the chance of successfully enlarging himself.

One day he was walking the forest in 2011, when he heard the most beautiful pipe music. He walked towards the source of it, unable to resist it, and found a beautiful blond haired woman playing the pipe during the school lunch hour. She stopped her music and apologised.

"I'm sorry," she said, "I had no idea that the hypnotic drawing power of the music would find anyone out here to be affected by it," I came out to play for my own enjoyment. I'm a teacher at the school nearby."

William told her his entire story, and she explained that she had come to earth late in 2010 to search for a romance with an earth person, that she was in fact a giantess on another world. How ironic it seemed to both of them, that she had met someone on earth who was already as relatively small as she'd hoped her future partner would only be after a return to the Land of the Giants and her full size. She had come to the conclusion that, only by living on earth among Little People, and working there, would she allow herself enough time to meet one and court him.

"Well I like you being a giant, Alison," said William, "But if you did go back at your full size, I would only be the size of an ant, rather than a doll to you."

"Not necessarily," said Alison, "Your teacher Mrs Franzen is almost due for retirement, but she still works at the school. Let's see what I can do."

Alison took William back to the school and then used the hypnotic flute on Altha Franzen. Though the Space Time Manipulator had the advantage of time and space travel and the ability to change the size of others as well as its operator, Altha never had the chance to use her advantages, because Alison Hunter's hypnotic flute music commanded Altha to hand over the STM and explain its use. With the STM in her possession, Alison restored William to his natural size, and then took William and Altha back to the Land of the Giants. There Alison restored Altha and herself to giant size and left Altha to fend for herself but without the ability to roam time and space with her tendency to misuse such a significant power advantage.

At last, time and space were safe from any threats from renegade giants. Alison Hunter, perhaps the most benevolent of all the giants, who had shown kindness to the Little People even when she was a young girl, had ended up with two means of size change, one of which could also traverse time and space, and the other of which could also play hypnotic music. She returned to her teaching job on the giant world, and enjoyed some time with William at his size, and some time with him as a giantess.

All of the preceding events had indeed created a far more pleasant modern paradise of the Land of the Giants, than the grim foreboding dangerous and politically corrupt realm that it had been, when it had first been discovered by the passengers and crew of Spindrift Flight 612 in 1983. The government was stable and honest. The criminal giants and their descendants had been brought to justice. The surrounding subterranean and offshore civilizations had been absorbed into the Supreme Council's kingdom, and the size differences which had once distinguished and divided the earthlings from the giants were now considered practically irrelevant, with the aid of Jodar Pharmacy pills and growth formula.

Yet still it was the prevailing viewpoint among the earthlings, and those giants who knew of earth's existence, that the laws preventing disclosure of the Land of the Giants to earth's greater populace should not be repealed. From every piece of history and culture of earth that was learned by the interaction between giants and earthlings, it became clearer and clearer that earth had a history which did not encourage maximum trust, nor the endowment of maximum knowledge.

Throughout nearly three decades of time, a series of special romances had formed and lasted in the Land of the Giants. Not only were Eli Burton and Danielle Ericcson (the two second generation Little People) still dating happily, but there were a number of inter-size relationships continuing to blossom and flourish between earth men and giantesses.

Some of them were, by most people's standards, somewhat dysfunctional, such as the vore crush between Alan Wilson and Lahtina, or the marriage of Jordy to Brooke (which was only possible because he had beaten her at chess and averted a fate worse than mere rejection).

Others involved intrigue and adventure, such as Dolf's relationship with Inspector Camilla Evers. Still others involved the size transition of one of the partners, so that the inter-size aspect of the relationship was no longer existent (in the case of Nick and Caroline for example).

Others continued without any other unusual circumstances, such as Barry and giant Betty, who would grow old together happily.

Finally there were two pairs of couples, both of which involved giantesses with the ability to traverse space and time with giant STMs. These couples were William and Alison (in 2011), and Chad and the giant former model Kristeene (in the 1980s).

From the point of view of Little People (which now included shrunken giants), the giant world was rich in an abundance of food, resources and beautiful scenery. Giants soon took to reducing their sizes and living in dolls houses on their own properties to make giant food go much further.

After a few months, Jodar began to get calls from people who noticed that making a number of successive size changes would not work forever, as one's body chemistry developed an immunity to the pills. Jodar made a public statement on television, along with a number of precautionary commercials, advising both earthlings and native born locals to think carefully, choose a size and stick to it. The pills would always be available, but Jodar could not assume liability for anyone who persisted in repeated use of both types of pills, jumping from one size to another, only to end up trapped at the size of least preference.

Addicts soon settled down into one size or another, living on earth or in the Land of the Giants. New users of the pills took a few to explore both worlds with their partners or even in search of partners or even just a change of scenery, but avoided repetitive frequent size changing.

The effect of this was that Alison and Kristeene were the only two giants who had the benefit of devices which enabled them to change size as often as they liked for as long as they lived …

… which made the romantic lives of William and Chad uniquely special indeed.


	31. The Unsuspected Clone

At some point prior to Dr Gault's capture of Valerie and Barry and Dan, and the creation of their Clones (as told in the episode "The Clones"), the normal sized Betty had been running from a giant child who had observed her and chased her through the undergrowth. She had run into an enormous 's clothes had collected much more of the dust than the amount which had affected Steve a few months earlier (as told in the episode "The Unsuspected"). Betty had run into the ventilating system of their laboratory complex, dripping toadstool dust as she went.

From the moment that she'd hit the toadstool, she had undergone the same amnesia affect that had affected Steve. Yet, with a giant kid after her, she knew she had to keep running.

Betty had been caught exploring the laboratory and cloned by Dr Gault and his female assistant, who at the time, had taken on a work experience science student named Jody (who was introduced in the episode "Genius at Work."). Jody had snuck into the laboratory after hours, and tested his growth formula, to see if it would work on clones too. It had enlarged the clone Betty to giant size. Unlike the latter clones of the others, who became unstable and died, the Betty clone had benefitted from a side effect of being enlarged by the formula. She stabilized and was able to enter the giant world at compatible size and begin a normal life. As a trained stewardess, it would have been easy for her to get a job with a giant aircraft company (at the same airport that Dan contacted in the episode "Land of the Lost").

Jody had turned the original Betty loose in the middle of the night, so that she could return to the Spindrift, which she did when her memory eventually returned. She had behaved temperamentally when captured by Dr Gault, because of the toadstool dust, but had no memory of the incident when she had returned to the Spindrift. By the time she met her giant double, she had no more explanation for Giant Betty's existence than the others. Giant Betty herself had decided it best to let them go on believing that she lived and worked in the giant land (which was now true), without letting them know that she was a clone, especially since she wasn't sure if she could win Barry over his feelings for the original Betty, if Barry knew she was an enlarged clone.

Neither Jody nor Dr Gault nor any of the others would learn that the subsequent clones made of Dan, Valerie and Barry only became violent because of the toadstool dust, which the air suction system had blown all around the vent area. Their lifespan could have been extended to normal, if any of those involved had known about Jody's enlargement formula and its side effects.

When Dr Gault had questioned his assistant, they were both sure that Jody was the only one who could have freed Betty and her clone. As their experiments were not authorized by the Supreme Council, they could not have reported Jody to the S.I.D. However, they had found an excuse to bring his work experience to an end, and had later captured Valerie and Betty, and eventually Dan, and continued their cloning experiments until Steve and Mark and Barry had put a stop to it, using Chipper's unique canine ability to distinguish the clones from the originals. (For details, again watch the episode "The Clones").

And what Giant Betty didn't know was that, had Barry known all of this, he wouldn't have loved her any less.


End file.
